Some questions about Dallas (Fort Worth, Arlington: apartments, renting, loft)

[jmims]

first some background information: I'm graduating from college in may. The day after graduation I'm going to Dallas for a job at a small bank in the downtown area of the city. I'm coming from Columbus,Ohio. The two questions I have are,

1. Is it possible to live in the city without a car and use public transportation.
( I hate driving. Its very stressful for me to deal with traffic.)

2. What part of the city is a good place to live for someone without a car.

[RonnieinDallas]

Originally Posted by jmims

1. Is it possible to live in the city without a car and use public transportation.
( I hate driving. Its very stressful for me to deal with traffic.)

Yes it is possible. Our public transportation system is called DART: Dallas Area Rapid Transit
Dallas by DART - You + Dallas

Originally Posted by jmims

2. What part of the city is a good place to live for someone without a car.

As close to work as you can(walkable to be safe). You can easily walk to a DART station from most of Downtown Dallas. You will have to take it for access to groceries, and other parts of the city. There is a CVS, and one grocery store located just south of DT Dallas accessible by train Dallas Urban Market. The Shops at Park ln. has a Whole Foods, and there is an Albertsons in nearby Uptown. There's a Target at the Cityplace station too.

Exploring DART Cityplace & Mockingbird Stations - YouTube

[ChristieP]

Just know that there are many areas of the metroplex that do not have public transportation at all. One of the most notable is Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys. If you ever want to watch a game, you will be stuck paying for an expensive cab ride both ways or renting a car.

It also gets really, really hot here in the summers. Being from Ohio, you really have no idea. Walking home from work in the evening when it is 108 degrees outside will not be fun! We usually have at least a week or two of extended heat when it doesn't get below 80 degrees at night, and is well over 100 during the day. It's pretty miserable! Our winters are nothing like Ohio, but it does get cold here, too.

[TrueDat]

Uptown is the most walkable part of town and you've got everything relatively nearby: a grocery store, Walgreens, lots of bars/restaurants, etc. It's not far from downtown and, depending on where you work in downtown, you can take either the DART light rail from the CityPlace station in Uptown or the free trolley that travels between downtown and Uptown.

The one snag with Uptown is that it's also the most expensive part of town in terms of apartments. You could also look for something in downtown itself or in Deep Ellum, the area just east of downtown which also has two light-rail stops. If you're looking for something that is more on the renovated loft style, this is the place as it's an old industrial area with a heavy artist/indie contingent.

it is possible to live in Dallas without a car. There are people who do it and there's an entire blog about it:

WALKABLE Dallas-Fort Worth

But it can be a hassle if you want to go somewhere that's not directly on a train or bus route and that's too far to bike to. And it gets way hot in summer, making even what might be an easy bike trip in any other time a chore. But there is a growing bike culture here though I'm guessing it's nothing like a more compact college town like Columbus.

ETA: Another option would be to live in The Village, a huge apartment community to the north of downtown where a lot of young people and people new to Dallas reside that's not very expensive http://www.thevillageapts.com/. You then could bike to Mockingbird Station and take the DART train from there into downtown. You can take your bike on the DART trains.
http://www.dart.org/riding/bike.asp

[Considering Coming Back]

Learn to love the bus.

Look within 5 miles of your office. I think the hardest part will be grocery shopping, Dallas doesn't have any grocers built with walkable entrances. If it were me I would look at the most convienet bus lines to my office and then try to find where the grocery stores were on that route and then try to live right there.

Also, get a bike.

[jdallas]

You can certainly live, work, play downtown without having a car. Look at the places over by Main St Garden Park, down Jackson, Elm and Commerce streets. West End may be tempting but the location next to the bus transfer hub and the Dart station is pretty sketchy. Deep Ellum has some places that quite a few recent grads gravitate to but I much preferred downtown. If you go outward from downtown, prices drop but then the need for a car increases.

[bencronin04]

There are also some grocery delivery services in Dallas should you find a place not near a store.

[DitsyD]

Realize that weekend and holiday public transportation runs a streamlined schedule with fewer trains & busses, so longer commutes to anywhere.

I've done it, but not having a car really s*cks in the Dallas area. The best places to live without a car will be more expensive places to live.

Congratulations on graduating and having a job. Good luck on your move.