DART: Useful? Needs Work? (Dallas, Fort Worth: construction, to live, shop)

[waltlantz]

As a D.C. Area native and frequent Philly visitor, I am used to Public Transit.

I've read that Dallas is one of the more productive in it's PT construction than it's southern neighbors (like Atlanta). Still highest PT usage is in Old NE cities and Chicago and San Fran.

I wonder what Dallas area people think about their PT system. Fort Worth peeps can include the T/TRE as well if you want, just make sure to note which you are talking about please.

[Dallas native]

Originally Posted by waltlantz

As a D.C. Area native and frequent Philly visitor, I am used to Public Transit.

I've read that Dallas is one of the more productive in it's PT construction than it's southern neighbors (like Atlanta). Still highest PT usage is in Old NE cities and Chicago and San Fran.

I wonder what Dallas area people think about their PT system. Fort Worth peeps can include the T/TRE as well if you want, just make sure to note which you are talking about please.

DART rail has grown a lot in its short life and more lines and stations will be opening later this year. However, it will never be as popular or useful as the subways are in NYC, Philly or DC. The reason is that Dallas is so spread out relative to those cities. In NYC where I used to live there were always subway stations close enough to walk to from just about anywhere in Manhattan. That is not the case here, nor will it ever be. The city of Dallas contains about 385 square miles so it is not feasible to put stations everywhere that people might like to have them. I think that it works well for people who live in the suburbs of Garland, Richardson and the eastern part of Plano and who work in Downtown Dallas. Soon there will be stops in some of the NW suburbs and within a few more years there will be service all the way out to DFW airport. So it is useful to a lot of people, but it is not real practical to rely on DART for those who just want to go short distances within the city unless they live very close to one of the DART stations.

[FarNorthDallas]

You can park all day long in downtown Dallas for $2.50 and there's plenty of available parking. Would more people drive into Manhattan if they had someplace to park their cars for cheap?

[WillysB]

Would more people drive into Manhattan if they had someplace to park their cars for cheap?

T. H. A. T. would be a traffic nitemare compounded infinitely worse than US75 while being rebuilt. I've used the Dallas rail several times and would use it where convenience allowed. Otherwise, like a well bred Texan, I'll keep my car.

I've done the DC rail, and London and Paris. I don't think the goal of DART includes an intent similar to those places. Not until they start connecting rail lines east to west and round and round.

[FarNorthDallas]

Originally Posted by WillysB

Would more people drive into Manhattan if they had someplace to park their cars for cheap?

T. H. A. T. would be a traffic nitemare compounded infinitely worse than US75 while being rebuilt. I've used the Dallas rail several times and would use it where convenience allowed. Otherwise, like a well bred Texan, I'll keep my car.

So true, but you can drive into Dallas fairly easily and that gives people an idea of just how different Dallas is from NYC or Chicago or London. People wonder why our mass transit system isn't as good as those cities, but you really can't compare. Those places are dense, congested, overcrowded places that depends heavily on mass transit. Our system is like Mass Transit Lite.

[Grainraiser]

I will say this about Dallas Area Mass Transit. If you work Downtown then DART is great. If you don't work downtown you will seldom use it. It is not used for recreation or shopping trips for the most part. People use it to get to work PERIOD!