Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Dart is one of the best light rails systems in the country. Marta is one of the worst heavy rail systems in the country. But none the less, light rail is light rail.
Yes, rail transit in DFW is more than just light rail:
(DART itself is just 18,251,700 as I don’t know if we can count TRE, TexRail, and the A train because the topic specifies DART)
Metro Bus:
Atlanta: 28,127,400 (MARTA Bus)
Dallas: 23,479,200 (DART Bus)
Total Rail + Bus:
Atlanta: 56,483,700
Dallas: 43,561,600 if including all rail, 41,730,900 if only using DART rail
Interesting to see the bus outperform the rail in Dallas. MARTA recently chose to eliminate some bus routes in favor of higher frequency. I hope it's a good call on behalf of the transit agency.
As far as DART, Dallas needs to focus on TOD and good interconnections with the rest of the city. If you look at the MARTA stations... all have pretty good TOD except the ones at the end of the lines which serve more as places for commuters to get off their cars and onto the trains.
Losfrisco is hyping DART but I wonder if they are familiar with it.
MARTA is more limited but has ligit TOD. The stations are highly activated.
DART used a ton of old railroad TOD which probably saves on cost but the downside is you have to wait for development around it. Using old ROW instead of subways or streetcars the stops are usually not in the thick of things.
Yeah DART has all those miles where the train goes, but how many if those miles are the train constantly packed with people?
Anywhere can add miles, but ridership should be measured in riders per mile. According to this article , which uses 2018 data, DART averaged 1,030 daily light rail rides per mile. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sta...240064553.html
Losfrisco keeps pointing out that DART is adding so and so more miles of track so it will get this and that more riders, but they must not realize that with every new addition the ridership drops.
Another good measure is cost of the lines per rider. On this, I must applaud DART. That thing cost some of the highest rates per rider in the country and yet they keep adding more and more lines. Such cojones.
The articles highlights that the Orange line costs $600,000 per weekday rider. And the commuter rail at $800,000 per rider.
IDK, all those extra miles connecting the suburbs are just fluff. Bragging rights. There's a few stretches in the central corridors that have decent stops but you can't extrapolate that to all 90 miles. You would be lucky to get a good 15 miles outta DART
Interesting to see the bus outperform the rail in Dallas. MARTA recently chose to eliminate some bus routes in favor of higher frequency. I hope it's a good call on behalf of the transit agency.
Bus actually outperforms rail in a lot of our major cities (including very transit friendly ones too), like Chicago, LA, SF, Houston, Seattle, Philadelphia, etc. They really are vital in giving riders good last mile connectivity and are pretty much every bit as important as a good rail spine. I’m happy Atlanta is focusing more on frequency instead of coverage for its bus routes. That should help ridership jump.
Lol this is extra funny given that we are talking about Texas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaBears02
Bus actually outperforms rail in a lot of our major cities (including very transit friendly ones too), like Chicago, LA, SF, Houston, Seattle, Philadelphia, etc. They really are vital in giving riders good last mile connectivity and are pretty much every bit as important as a good rail spine. I’m happy Atlanta is focusing more on frequency instead of coverage for its bus routes. That should help ridership jump.
Though I do wonder which routes would get cut. Alpharetta has a lot of coverage, maybe some up there would get cut and probably some in Dekalb closer to the wealthier areas. I can't see them cutting a whole lot of services in the southside of the metro that's probably where most of the riders are.
Rail transit in DFW is way more than just a light rail system.
Oops I forgot about TRE that doesn't even run on Sundays. TexRail isn't DART which is the topic at hand though.
As for DART, where is the TOD? Outside of a handful of stations where is it? MARTA has it and they are still building. I'll admit DART light rail runs mostly as a metro outside the downtown core due to grade separation but when you have nothing at these stations what's the point?
Oops I forgot about TRE that doesn't even run on Sundays. TexRail isn't DART which is the topic at hand though.
As for DART, where is the TOD? Outside of a handful of stations where is it? MARTA has it and they are still building. I'll admit DART light rail runs mostly as a metro outside the downtown core due to grade separation but when you have nothing at these stations what's the point?
TEXRail and A-Train aren't DART, but my point is transit in DFW is not just one system like in Atlanta.
What's an example of a TOD that Atlanta has and Dallas doesn't?
Oops I forgot about TRE that doesn't even run on Sundays. TexRail isn't DART which is the topic at hand though.
As for DART, where is the TOD? Outside of a handful of stations where is it? MARTA has it and they are still building. I'll admit DART light rail runs mostly as a metro outside the downtown core due to grade separation but when you have nothing at these stations what's the point?
SMU/Mockingbird Station, CityLine/Bush Station, Victory Park Station, Las Colinas Urban Center Station.
DART is not great with TOD but there’s a few decent examples.
SMU/Mockingbird Station, CityLine/Bush Station, Victory Park Station, Las Colinas Urban Center Station.
DART is not great with TOD but there’s a few decent examples.
West Village has subway and trolley stations. Park Lane is technically a TOD with the station across the street. Downtown Plano...Downtown Carrollton... And you'll see much more TOD inclusion once the Silver Line opens.
Non-DART TOD development in Downtown Grapevine. Not sure about Downtown Denton with the A-Train.
TEXRail and A-Train aren't DART, but my point is transit in DFW is not just one system like in Atlanta.
What's an example of a TOD that Atlanta has and Dallas doesn't?
Transit in Atlanta isnt one system either... which large metro areas only have one transit system? cant think of any
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
