Why doesn't Arlington belive in public transit? (Dallas, Fort Worth: middle-class, employment)

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by 13 cats

I know retail workers are mostly poor. That's what I said that. Retail shops are all over the place, everywhere but on the freeway itself and inside neighborhoods.

I hardly ever drive so the traffic is certainly not my fault.

I do not understand your issue. OK - you "hate Texas". Personally I am not too fond of it but will give it a try with an open mind.
Were you to bother to work up a business plan for public transportation for a 300k community you might see why it is not feasible on a financial standpoint. As concerned citizen you have the option to present your ideas and concerns to your representative and city hall. You can start a grass roots movement!

[Philip T]

It really is intended to discourage poor folks.

Can't afford a car and you can not live in Arlington was the thinking.

Dealt with City about all that way back when I was involved at UT Arlington.

So there are vast rivers of concrete roads, and square miles of paved over parking lots.

Now THAT is some real Quality of Life.

[silverbelles]

I actually had to study this exact issue when I went to UTA and it is headache inducing. Before living in Arlington from 2008 to May of this year, I never thought about transportation issues, and now I study them. I didn't have a car in the entire four years I lived there, and it is indeed a challenge to get around.

The truly is hatred towards other forms of transit other than private cars. I wish I could dig up this article I used for one of my research papers, but when the city started to add bike lanes to the streets, people were *angry*. Angry to the point of telling bikers to get the hell off of *their* roads! The idea of sharing the road, outside of round UTA, is baffling and there's little respect for the few pedestrians around.

There are many elements, and yes, keeping a certain "element" out is one of them. If you really move around Arlington, you'll see it's pretty segregated. There's UTA which has its student ghetto, then lower income neighborhoods around them (Mesquite, Cooper), then there's the Ball park area, tightly knit ethnic enclaves that do not mix, and the middle to upper class areas (like Pantego and Dalworthington Gardens, which are surrounded by Arlington). The city is still held by a conservative voting base that does not want to bring in public transit because it would encourage too much movement between socioeconomic classes, and they are afraid that even more lower/working classes individuals and families will move in.

There is also the issue of taxes -- if it ain't going towards sports, don't even think about trying to raise their taxes in any way. Finally, Texas in general suffers from being short-sighted in terms of planning. The state would much rather expand freeways (due to the erroneous belief that it will relieve traffic tension, when in the long term it actually makes it worse) instead of looking for long term solutions. Arlington is a big city, nearly 400,000 people and UTA is growing every semester -- that city needs to make some serious long term changes because there is so much potential being wasted. Retail has been popping up around the "Downtown". When I started in 2008, there were no frozen yogurt places down Cooper. No Beirut Rock Cafe for great Lebanese food within walking distance. I could keep going on with the amount of changes that's happening to the city that impacts not only the university, but every citizen who has the means of getting there.

I think with how fast the city is growing, public transit will make another appearance on the ballots within the next four years or so. Will the voters strike it down again? Probably, but I hope not.

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by Philip T

It really is intended to discourage poor folks.

Can't afford a car and you can not live in Arlington was the thinking.

Dealt with City about all that way back when I was involved at UT Arlington.

So there are vast rivers of concrete roads, and square miles of paved over parking lots.

Now THAT is some real Quality of Life.

Disagree... I moved to Arlington in the 70's and have watched it's growth over the years. It's a demand and cost issue. Arlington has always been a bedroom suburb where people drive to FW, Las Colinas, Plano, Dallas to make a living.

Ridership would be extremely low and costs would be extremely high for Arl to have bus service. It would be a major drain on a very tight budget.

[loves2read]

that was why it was voted down by the citizens
they don't want bus service to get to Costco or 6 Flags
there should be a unified metroplex transportation authority
there won't be since the counties and towns are too competitive
the drive to get a rail line from Dallas/DFW through Grapevine and the Mid Cities into FTW has lagged and one major reason is that the Cotton Belt line is owned by DART and DART was not wanting to lease it out to the consortium heading the commuter train project....at least for something reasonable...
now I think push has come to shove and there is plan underway to make the line connect with the DART line going in to Las Colinas at some point so DART is being more amenable...

but TX has always been resistant to unified authority--
let's have 400 school districts of varying sizes within the state (or more) and lets have 30 in one county
that is really so stupid/inefficient/expensive/redundant...
most of the $$ in education salaries goes to admin staff--
merge ISDs and there would be shrinking of admins while teachers would more than likely still be needed...most districts have already pared any superfluous teachers over the past 5 years...

[JJG]

Originally Posted by loves2read

that was why it was voted down by the citizens
they don't want bus service to get to Costco or 6 Flags
there should be a unified metroplex transportation authority
there won't be since the counties and towns are too competitive
the drive to get a rail line from Dallas/DFW through Grapevine and the Mid Cities into FTW has lagged and one major reason is that the Cotton Belt line is owned by DART and DART was not wanting to lease it out to the consortium heading the commuter train project....at least for something reasonable...
now I think push has come to shove and there is plan underway to make the line connect with the DART line going in to Las Colinas at some point so DART is being more amenable...

but TX has always been resistant to unified authority--
let's have 400 school districts of varying sizes within the state (or more) and lets have 30 in one county
that is really so stupid/inefficient/expensive/redundant...
most of the $$ in education salaries goes to admin staff--
merge ISDs and there would be shrinking of admins while teachers would more than likely still be needed...most districts have already pared any superfluous teachers over the past 5 years...

As much as The T sucks, I actually wouldn't mind Dallas and Fort Worth merging transportation authorities.

[Dark Serge]

Honestly, I could go into a paragraphs-long typing spree here, but the reason Arlington doesn't believe in public transit is because it's chock full of people who believe that if it ain't a multiple-ton metal machine, it don't belong on the roads. The municipality (note that I'm avoiding using the word "city") is basically the Mecca of the self-centered, car-worshipping, "I have mine so to you-know-where with you" suburban demographic.

[StevenDM]

Also, many people in Arlington subscribe to the Tea Party belief that public transportation is socialistic and using any form of transportation other that your own gas-guzzling SUV to go even two blocks is un-American. Here in Texas, patriotism is defined partly by your own car. If you even car-pool to work, you are NOT a patriotic red-blooded American. In one city council meeting about bike lanes, one woman stated that bike lanes were some United Nations plot. One veteran also stated that his comrades died so he and other Americans would have the right to drive to work alone in their own cars. So, if you do not own a car, you are not a true American, according to these people.

[Threestep2]

Do you really expect someone to wait for the bus in dress/hose/heels to go to work in the morning and then at 4:30/5:00 in 100F+?

[Mr.Garcia]

Could the real reason why Arlington doesn't have a bus service is the same reason any suburb of FTW or Dallas doesn't have bus service? This is one of the reason why DFW is one of the most economically segregated cities in America.