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Yesterday, I took the day to do some exploring. In an attempt to experience DART as what I believe the "average" person starting out using the system would, I did not plan my trip and planned to only take the trains and not step foot on a bus. Right or wrong, this is the entire premise of my excursion. With that mindset, here is my experience... the good, the bad and my observations/recommendations:
My morning started out normal, turning on the espresso machine and having my morning double latte. After a quick shower, I loaded up my backpack with a one-liter water bottle and my laptop + 3G wireless card (I'm oncall this weekend, so had to lug that around with me). Heading out the door, I arrived at the Walnut Hill station on the Red Line at 9:50am. On my way up to the platform, I had a guy ask me for a couple bucks to "buy a bus ticket". It was in the low-to-mid eighties and there was a nice breeze, so it was quite pleasant on the platform waiting for the train. I walked around the platform only to realize I couldn't buy tickets on the platform and had to walk back down the stairs to get my $5 "premium" ticket - meaning not only could I use DART services throughout Dallas, but also in Fort Worth as well. Back up the stairs and onto the platform again. It is now 9:50am. After looking at the schedule, I realized I had just missed the 9:46am train and would have to wait for the 10:16am one. Shame on me for not planning, and shame on DART for only having ticket machines before you enter the platform (this reminds me of the conversations related to adding turnstiles to the rail - if that were the case, I would have known I was entering a "paid area"). The platform was not very populated - just a small handful of people - possibly 6-8, including myself. As I looked around, I was reminded of how much I liked the AIG building - it really is a neat building, but then looked North of Walnut Hill to the grossly underutilized retail facilities - the one with the pool store and Dave & Busters. It's always empty and strikes me as a place that really is ripe for redevelopment. At 10:16am, right on time, the rail arrives. As I get on, I immediately notice it's about 80% full, so I grab a seat and look around to see what type of people are on the train. It appears there are quite a few families with kids, some folks in business suits (seriously, on SATURDAY), but was a quite balanced mix (based on how they looked) of multiple races and, if one can judge a book by it's cover, all socio-economic rungs. There was a nice family of what I presumed to be a Grandmother, her son, and his two children. They were heading to the Dallas World Aquarium after walking through the Taste of Dallas. Very nice people. At Lovers Lane station, more people got on - enough that most of the seats were full and people were beginning to stand.
At 10:28, I reached my first destination: Cityplace Station. I've never been to this station, so I was amazed how deep the station is. Heading up two rather long escelators, then a short stairwell, I was at street level. There was a sign pointing toward West Village, which was where I was heading for breakfast. My observation was that I felt very disconnected, almost like things weren't completed, from West Village. The sidewalk heading to the trolley ended well before the trolley stop, so I headed across the street to the full sidewalk that went next to the golf driving range. I had to cross the street again to walk by the shops, which felt a bit desolate. There was a parking garage and a gym before arriving at some good shops. As I walked, I passed The Fish (I really like this restaurant), then got to the "heart" of West Village. Since some brilliant planner put the parking garage smack dab in the middle of the development so cars are forced to cross the path of pedestrian walkways, a vehicle heading out nearly ran me over. This development certainly emphasizes the mentality that cars rule that Dallas is so well known for. It's not 10:38am, and as I walked by Taco Diner, noticing that a bunch of people were eating breakfast, I walked in to check out the menu. Heuvos Rancheros. YUM! My decision was made. Taco Diner was my breakfast stop. Quick one, too. I was done, paid and back on the move by 11:02am. Walking toward the end of the street, at the corner by Starbucks, I noticed the trolley sign and map. It looked like it stopped downtown, which was my next stop, so I figured why walk back to Cityplace when I can hop on the historic trolley. It turns out this was a wonderful decision. At 11:10am, the trolley pulled up. It was about half full. This was my first time riding the trolley. These historic trolley's are truly beautiful - oak framed windows, wood slat ceilings and a bit of a bumpy ride definitely brought a feeling of riding in a well maintained piece of our history. We headed down McKinney avenue toward downtown. As I looked around to admire uptown (something that is VERY hard to do when driving), I noticed something I had never noticed before... a CREPERIE! My wife and I got engaged in Paris and we had a day we ate nothing but crepes, so I have a special place in my heart for these wonderfully sweet little treats. Mental note: must head back here at a later date. At 11:23, we arrived at the last stop, which was at the edge of the downtown business district.
Heading through downtown on foot, I noticed there weren't many people walking. A few here, a few there, but overall, not many. I walked by several condo sales offices before deciding to stop into one to get a look around. The Metropolitan seemed nice enough, so I headed in at 11:39am. There was a sign that said to go to the West side of the building. I chuckled to myself as I realized that I had no idea which direction I was facing... it would be beneficial to have an arrow directing people. The gentleman at the front desk was quite nice. He rang the sales office and within a few minutes, I was heading up the elevator to the 24th floor to look at the biggest unit... it was quite nice, and at 2101 sq ft, I was a little amazed that it was only a 2br. Since the price of that unit was well north of half a million, which is way out of my comfort zone, I wanted to look at something that I could afford. They have 2br, 2bath places in the 1100-1379 sq ft range, starting in the $280's, so that seemed more my speed. We headed to the 6th floor. One of the units I looked at was a 1219 sq ft, 2br, 2ba place. While the brochure said the plan "started at $305K", I was a little amazed that the particular unit I saw was listed at $378K due to the upgrades. Still, it was a very nice floorplan. I also looked at a 2br, 2ba with den, which considering I worked from home a lot, would better fit with the dedicated office space (aka den). Condo dues were listed at 32 cents per sq ft, which struck me as a very fair way to distribute building maintenance. That puts the 1454 sq ft 2br/2ba/den's dues at $465/month. Way more than I'm used to, but I'm not used to the highrise lifestyle. Some things that I had inquired about that were interesting: the building submeters electricity, which means you get commercial rates instead of residential rates (which are roughly 35% lower) and since you only have one or two walls facing the exterior, the utility bills would be substantially lower than a comparably sized single family home. The sound proofing appeared to be quite good. The walls between the hallway and the units interior were obviously NOT your standard 2x4 construction - the walls were much thicker - and upon inquiry, the sales person did note that the builder put special focus on soundproofing. The hallways were all VERY quiet. The pool area was gorgeous. Having a 6th floor pool certainly had some serious "cool factor". At the end of the tour, I definitely felt that this condo was quite nice, and that the prices for such a nice unit in a high-rise were actually pretty reasonable, all things considered. At 12:09pm, I left the Metropolitan and headed down the Main Street District.
Several restaurants caught my eye: Dallas Fish Market and Porta di Roma. They both looked good and earned a place on my list of restaurants to try, but I was on a mission to have lunch in the Cedars area, South of downtown, so I headed to the St. Paul station, arriving there at 12:25pm.
Just a couple stations South, I got off at The Cedars station. Wow - this station is really far from any sort of retail. A couple blocks away, walking past an IBM building and the police station, was "South Side". I had heard there is a good coffee shop and a good BBQ joint in the area. The coffee shop was my first stop since I stumbled onto it. It's a neat shop - very warm and inviting. Their selection of sweets and snacks looked great (even took a picture of them for my wife to convince her we need to take a trip back). Several couches and tables. One of the couches was even the same couch in my living room! The friendly staff and I joked around a little - and after my comment about wanting coffee, but it's too hot out, they recommended I try an iced latte. Taking their suggestion, I sat on a "my" couch with my drink, fired up the laptop to look up a BBQ place that was recommended to me called Off The Bone BBQ. It's just 3 blocks away so I started heading South on South Lamar. This is a pretty major thoroughfare, so I was a bit disappointed to realize I had to cross the street... without any sort of crosswalk, but the traffic was light, so I headed across. Off The Bone set up shop in an old service station - the type with a small interior and an overhang with brick pillars in each corner, supporting the structure. It's a neat facility, but only has outdoor seating. While I was planning to get the brisket sandwich, I was handed a pork rib to try. Pork ribs are generally not my favorite, but this pork rib was absolutely awesome, so I got an order of pork ribs and some potato salad. These ribs are absolutely the best I have ever had, so I will most definitely be making a trip back. It's now 1:38pm. I'm totally stuffed.
Heading back to The Cedars station, I went up to Union Station to get on the TRE. About 10 minutes after arriving, the TRE pulled up. These double decker trains are really beautiful, so I headed upstairs to get the best view. The train has about 60-65% of the seats full. At 2:22pm, we head toward Fort Worth. On the way, we could see the great progress on the DART Orange Line - the bridges for the project are coming along quite nicely. Further up the line, I was able to marvel at the size of Children's Medical. Driving in a car, I had never had the chance to take a good look at their facilities, so it was amazing to see how absolutely huge their complex is. At this point, it dawned on me how stress free traveling my train is. Not having to deal with traffic is great, as well as not having to find parking. It takes just over an hour to make it to Forth Worth, where I hopped off at the ITC station. To make sure I didn't repeat this morning's waiting game at Walnut Hill Station, I grabbed a TRE schedule and headed toward downtown Fort Worth. It's a little bit of a walk, but I was pleasantly surprised to run into one of my church's pastors. He pointed me toward "The Square".
At 3:35pm, I arrived at The Flying Saucer. It's hot outside, so I wanted a beer (or two). Sitting at the bar, I ended up talking to a very nice couple that was in town from Houston. We chatted about travel for a short bit and I asked them if they took the TRE. They had - and enjoyed their experience. Heading back outside, I walked up and down many of the streets in the downtown area. Fort Worth's downtown area, while smaller than Dallas, felt more alive. The area had more contiguous ground level retail and restaurants. There were more pedestrians. It has a great feel. The size of the dense area is relatively small though, so after walking around for about an hour, I looked at my TRE schedule and decided that since I just wasn't hungry yet, I would head back to Dallas. The Ft Worth convention center had some sort of event letting out, so I was walking with a very large group of people. Many of them were heading to the same station I was, so when I boarded the 5:30PM train, it was totally packed.
At roughly 6:30pm, I arrived at Victory Station and headed to Pacuigo for a little snack. A little Italian icecream never hurts. There was a group of three folks sitting on one of the couches that were very talkative and introduced themselves. One of the folks had just moved here from Las Angeles just over a week ago, so I had to ask what he thought of Dallas folks. He noted two big differences: people are nicer and customer service is better here. He was also raving about how affordable housing is. They were trying to come up with dinner plans. We discussed many places and I believe they had decided to hit the Knox Hendersen area to go to Taverna, one of my favorite restaurants. After a very nice conversation, I headed out on a qwest for dinner.
Heading down toward West End - where the Taste of Dallas event was going on - I walked through Victory Plaza, past Dick's Last Resort and Hooter's, directly into West End. I've been to Taste of Dallas in the past, and honestly, had not ever been impressed, so when I turned the corner and saw the sea of people, I was pleasantly surprised. The first thing I noticed were the Wii Fit stations setup. What a fun idea! There were kids AND adults checking out these machines - and there were a ton of machines - so the lines weren't long. Hearing people oohing and ahhing, I headed over to a set of bike ramps where some BMX riders were doing tricks - which I have never seen live. It was definitely very neat to see in person. The size of the Taste of Dallas had certainly increased since my last visit. Continuing my trek, I headed back to Main Street, past the Metropolitan again and down a little alley that looked like a neat place. There was a small asian restaurant called Tuk Tuk tucked away (no pun intended). Their menu had Pad Thai, which is one of my favorite dishes, so I headed in and placed my order. They had a TV running with a Rambo movie playing. While it seemed a bit strange - I got hooked and ended up staying for an hour before heading back toward the St Paul station, hopping on a red line train around 9:30pm to head home.
Overall, my experience was a positive one. There were definitely things that could be improved upon. Almost all the stations I had stopped at: Cityplace, Cedars, Victory and the TRE's ITC, were a bit disconnected from the development in the area - requiring a 10 minute walk to get into the thick of things. The amount of construction in our region is astounding. Taking public transportation allowed me to take the time to pay attention to it all (without fear of rear-ending anyone). As this development continues to fill in these gaps, things are only going to be get better. The downtown Dallas areas have a ton of residential options, with only more coming online - which definitely had a feel of nearing a point of critical mass. Downtown Fort Worth has already hit that point - by having a more dense downtown area, it can grow outward instead of having to "fill in the gaps". Both areas are growing quickly and I would say that you couldn't go wrong with either downtown area.
Thanks for the great report. Near the end of reading your experience I was thinking, hmmm, great end of summer activity for the family to do. We love being "tourists" in our own city.
What a nice summary of your experience! Thanks for sharing, I would love to try the same someday. I don't know if you've ever been to St Louis, they have a fabulous metro-link connecting their airport, through downtown stops (Busch Stadium, The Arch etc) all the way across the state line to the IL Air Force base. It looks like Dallas is trying to get something similar going.
Making note of the Dallas restaurant stops as well :-)
I'm glad you like the report. It was quite enjoyable spending the day out and about. I just say the news, saying it got up to 102 degrees yesterday, which I suppose proves that we can get out and about in the heat of the summer.
From a financial perspective, here were my expenses (including tips):
$5 - DART "Premium" Daypass (keep in mind if you aren't going to Ft Worth - it's only $3)
$13 - Orange Juice + Huevos Rancheros @ Taco Diner
$4 - Iced Latte @ Opening Bell Coffee
$9 - Pork Ribs + Potato Salad + Soda @ Off The Bone BBQ
$12 - 2 Newcastles @ Flying Saucer
$4 - "Pico Cup" @ Paciugo
$15 - Pad Thai + Soda @ Tuk Tuk
Total = $62
While I don't normally head to Fort Worth, it is worth noting that according to Yahoo! Maps, it would be 86 miles round trip. My truck gets about 18 mpg. The news last night said we have an average price in the metro of $3.95/gal - so if I were to drive to Fort Worth, it would have cost me nearly $19 - so having the freedom to travel around the metro on $5 for the entire day, to me, is an absolutely awesome thing.
I haven't taken advantage of DART all that much prior to yesterday. Now that I've gotten my feet wet and have gone around to a couple of the stations people have talked about - my wife and I will definitely be using the system much, much more... especially when the new Blue Line station in Lake Highlands Town Center becomes operational (10 minute walk from my front door).
Now... how do we encourage getting a rail station at Knox/Hendersen? It's one of my wife and I's favorite destinations in Dallas - and it's already popular. Providing an alternative way to get to this area would be a big win for Dallas and DART.
What a nice summary of your experience! Thanks for sharing, I would love to try the same someday. I don't know if you've ever been to St Louis, they have a fabulous metro-link connecting their airport, through downtown stops (Busch Stadium, The Arch etc) all the way across the state line to the IL Air Force base. It looks like Dallas is trying to get something similar going.
Making note of the Dallas restaurant stops as well :-)
I've been on the St Louis system as well. The link to the airport is pretty convenient, but it's unfortunate that they are at a far distance to the area around the park and zoo and museum complex. The St Louis side of the line is definitely more interesting than the Illinois side, which is mostly the depressed East St louis downtown and a set of suburban stations.
DART currently has 44 miiles of light rail and 34 stations. DART in Dallas is expanding, and the Green line is under construction now. The Green will complete in 2 years, and the Orange line to DFW airport will be complete in 5 years, and by then Dallas will have a 95 mile rail system. By way of contrast, Chicago's EL system is about 108 miles.
I have heard great things about Off the Bone BBQ. Since I love BBQ I will be having it for lunch one day next week. Sounds like you had a great time exploring the city and reading the story was great. Thanks for sharing.
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