WeGo transit centers renamed to celebrate historic community leaders

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - At a meeting on Tuesday, the Metro Nashville City Council approved an ordinance that officially renames the WeGo Central transit station in downtown Nashville and the future North Nashville Transit Center.

The transit center will now be called the “Elizabeth Duff Transit Center at WeGo Central,” and the future North Nashville transit center will be “Ernest ‘Rip’ Patton North Nashville Transit Center.”

Elizabeth Duff was the first female and first African American female bus operator in Nashville when the Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority hired her in April 1974. She died of COVID complications on Feb. 13, 2021, at 72.

Patton was a college student and member of the Nashville Freedom Riders who participated in the downtown Nashville Civil Rights sit-ins and protests in Mississippi. He died on Aug. 24, 2021, at the age of 81.

“To me, [this naming] is an inspiration to just keep going forward and trying to follow in her footsteps and be all I can be like she was,” said Virpi Carter, daughter of Elizabeth Duff.

“It shows that all the things that my uncle did were very special, not just to only me, but to everyone he met and came into contact with, and the things he had done for the community and the process of what happened back then until now, and that there is still work to be done,” said Michelle Holt, niece of Rip Patton

The bills, recommended in April 2022, were co-sponsored by all Metro Council members.

An official renaming ceremony will be held at the Elizabeth Duff Transit Center at WeGo Central when signage is installed. Groundbreaking for the Ernest ‘Rip’ Patton North Nashville Transit Center is expected later this fall.

For more information about WeGo Public Transit, visit wegotransit.com.

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