What do you think of the DART? (Dallas, Fort Worth: transfer to, construction)

[backtotx]

Does DART operate any buses from the Allen area? Thanks

[lpepping]

Originally Posted by DWong

Oh sorry I was referring to the fact that DART doesn't break in the top 50 cities for public transport use. Being the 4th largest metro yet not in the top 50 says alot about the culture and demographics of the area. It isn't anywhere near being public transport friendly. They can claim the 2030 plan all they want, people prefer cars till the end of day and growth is spanning outward and not up and in.

Yes the Dallas area is huge and people love their cars/trucks. But ridership is increasing. It will still be a challenge to be one of the top cities but that is what happens when you get a late start. Have you ever seen how much the Red Line is used? I would think the Green Line would be used in a similar fashion.

[tallscot]

DART's budget $1 billion short, new rail line costs $2 billion, not $1 billion:
Hardballs, page 1 - News - Dallas Observer - Dallas Observer

No audit coming. No big deal. Very typical.

[tallscot]

Originally Posted by lpepping

Yes the Dallas area is huge and people love their cars/trucks. But ridership is increasing. It will still be a challenge to be one of the top cities but that is what happens when you get a late start. Have you ever seen how much the Red Line is used? I would think the Green Line would be used in a similar fashion.

Ridership is around 27,900 per weekday on the entire light rail line based on DART's own figure of 62,000 trips per weekday. The ATPA says you multiply the total trips by 45% to get ridership numbers (total trips counts each direction and transfers as 1 each).

The population of the DART member cities is around 2,100,000. What's 27,900 out of 2.1 million? 1.33%? And that's if there aren't any riders from non-member cities like Allen, McKinney...for $770 million per year?

The density isn't high enough here and people work all over the place.

[lpepping]

Originally Posted by tallscot

Ridership is around 27,900 per weekday on the entire light rail line based on DART's own figure of 62,000 trips per weekday. The ATPA says you multiply the total trips by 45% to get ridership numbers (total trips counts each direction and transfers as 1 each).

The population of the DART member cities is around 2,100,000. What's 27,900 out of 2.1 million? 1.33%? And that's if there aren't any riders from non-member cities like Allen, McKinney...for $770 million per year?

The density isn't high enough here and people work all over the place.

Ok. Thanks for the info.

[billdfw]

The DART rail, right now, is not very practical for the vast majority of Dallas and especially the outlying cities.

But it is important groundwork for the future. Just look at the expansion in the next few years, it will be miles better. Combine the expansion with the increasing fuel costs and a lot more people will be riding.

Most importantly, in 10 or 20 years we could have a full blown transit system with easy access anywhere in Dallas and many commuter trains out the the burbs and to the newest David Weekly faux community. That would be truly great.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by DWong

Oh sorry I was referring to the fact that DART doesn't break in the top 50 cities for public transport use.

That is not a fact. The DFW transit agencies (Dallas, TRE, Denton) make about 250,000 trips per day, according to APTA.

Being the 4th largest metro yet not in the top 50 (???) says alot about the culture and demographics of the area. It isn't anywhere near being public transport friendly. They can claim the 2030 plan all they want, people prefer cars till the end of day and growth is spanning outward and not up and in.

Your information tends to be factually incorrect. But to attend to the substance of your post, the alleged car-oriented nature of the metro, that is a feature that is common to all metros in the USA. When you go into the suburban areas of metropolitan areas, you will find that they are all car oriented. People drive to their suburban jobs, to run errands, to buy groceries, take kids to soccer practice, etc. Dallas is not unusual or unique in this regard.

[t.e.sumner]

You could be right, except that the spiraling gasoline prices will entice a lot more people to hop on the bus. Frankly, when big events are on, DART is a much better alternative to driving and parking.

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by t.e.sumner

You could be right, except that the spiraling gasoline prices will entice a lot more people to hop on the bus. Frankly, when big events are on, DART is a much better alternative to driving and parking.

Very true. The easiest way to get out of an arena is to ride public transportation. The alternative is to wait forever in an endless line of cars trying to get on the freeway.

I'd think that one of the causes of low attendance at Ranger games is the horrible traffic jam on I30 when everybody is trying to leave at once.

Yes, the proce of gas will have a sobering influence on the use of a car. It will also change the design of our suburbs, where a supermarket is sited 4 miles from its customers. We may have smaller shopping districts, but more of them, closer to their customers.

[FarNorthDallas]

Originally Posted by backtotx

Does DART operate any buses from the Allen area? Thanks

No, Allen is not a DART member city, but Plano is.