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The Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority (or DART) is the transit agency in Dallas, Texas that operates buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, and HOV lanes in Dallas and 12 of its suburbs.
History
DART was created in 1983 as a regional replacement for the Dallas Transit System. Citizens of 15 area cities had voted to levy a 1% sales tax to join the system by the time it began transit services in 1984 (though formal acquisition of the Dallas Transit System wouldn't be complete until 1988).
Just a year later, in 1985, member cities Carrollton and Farmers Branch held elections to pull out of DART, though the measures failed. But shifting suburban politics and a loss of confidence in DART management led to 7 more pullout votes in the 1980s, two of which (Flower Mound and Coppell) were successful. Just one suburb joined DART -- the tiny community of Buckingham, which was later annexed by DART member city Richardson.
The year 1990, though, was a turning point for the agency when DART broke ground on its light rail system. The light rail system began service on time and on budget in June 1996, inaugurating the first light rail system in Texas and the Southwest. Commuter rail service to Irving began in December, after some delays.
To the surprise of critics, who expected the low ridership of the Miami and Los Angeles systems, the new light rail system was embraced by Dallasites, with ridership exceeding expectations. The suburbs' confidence in DART was also expressed at the ballot box: five cities held highly publicized pullout elections in 1996 (with the financial assistance of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones), but DART won handily in all five.
In 2000, DART opened Cityplace Station, the first subway station in Texas (and the Southwest) (excluding the Tandy Center Subway, a small private subway in Fort Worth, Texas between an office building and a parking lot which ceased to operate in 2002).
By 2002, DART light rail extended to the suburbs of Richardson, Plano, and Garland. In addition, the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) commuter rail line connected downtown Dallas with downtown Fort Worth (through an interlocal agreement with the Fort Worth Transit Authority, "The T") for the first time since the 1930s.
DART itself currently operates two light rail lines, the Red Line and the Blue Line. The Trinity Railway Express is the commuter rail line that runs between Dallas and Fort Worth.
Source: Dallas Area Rapid Transit, DART History
DART is currently designing the next phase of the expansion of the light rail system. Two new light rail lines (tentatively named the Green and Orange Lines) will extend out of downtown Dallas by late 2009. One line will run southeast from downtown to Fair Park and then to the Dallas neighborhood of Pleasant Grove. This line will also operate northwest from Downtown Dallas via Love Field airport, and extend into the suburbs of Farmers Branch and Carrollton. The second line will run northwest from downtown, and branch off toward Irving with eventual service to the north side of DFW Airport. DART is cooperating with DFW and Love Field to link the two airports via rail. This is expected to partially ease some of the friction going on between the airports over the Wright Amendment.
On July 3, 2006, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) approved a $700-million Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) to kick-start a $2.5-billion expansion that will lead to the doubling of the DART Rail System to 90 miles by 2013. The grant is the largest ever awarded to DART. The FFGA - in which the federal government makes a commitment to fund a transportation project over a number of years - will support a 21-mile northwest/southeast “connector” DART Expansion Maplinking Farmers Branch and the Pleasant Grove section of Dallas. When complete in 2010, the Green Line will serve several regional destinations including Deep Ellum, Baylor University Medical Center, Fair Park, Victory Park, the Dallas Market Center, the Southwestern Medical District, Love Field Airport and downtown Farmers Branch.
DART light rail and commuter lines
- Red Line
- Blue Line
- Green (Northwest/Pleasant Grove Line; proposed opening 2009)
- Orange Line (Irving/DFW Line; proposed opening 2011)
- Trinity Railway Express TRE commuter rail
DART member cities
In addition to the cities that voted to join DART at its creation, the legislation that created DART specifies that any city adjoining Dallas may join the agency. In addition, any city that adjoins a DART member city becomes eligible to join. Member cities fund DART with a 1% sales tax. This levy prevents some cities from joining, due to Texas laws that cap the total sales tax that may be charged.
In 2003, the Texas Legislature enacted new legislation enabling countywide transit districts (such as the Denton County Transportation Authority), but DART's membership rules were not affected.
List of DART member cities
All of these cities joined the Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority when it was originally created in 1983. All but Glenn Heights (and Flower Mound, which later withdrew) would also be eligible for DART membership because they are adjacent to the city of Dallas.
- Glenn Heights is the only one of Dallas' southern suburbs that has joined DART, besides Cockrell Hill (which is an island city in southern Dallas).
Eligible cities that are not members of DART
These cities are eligible to join DART as they are adjacent to DART member cities (see below), but have not chosen to levy the required 1% sales tax required for membership and regular service. However, DART can establish service to non-member cities under certain conditions. In addition to the Trinity Railway Express interlocal agreements, DART serves destinations like Eastfield College, which is within the city limits of Mesquite.
- Allen (adjacent to Plano)
- Balch Springs (Dallas)
- Cedar Hill (Dallas)
- Coppell (Carrollton, Irving, Dallas)
- Coppell withdrew from DART in 1989
- Duncanville (Dallas)
- DeSoto (Dallas)
- Euless (Irving)
- Flower Mound (No longer eligible)
- Flower Mound withdrew from DART in 1989. In 2003, voters also rejected membership in the Denton County Transportation Authority.
- Frisco (Plano)
- Grand Prairie (Dallas)
- Grapevine (Irving)
- Heath (Rowlett, Dallas via Lake Ray Hubbard)
- Hutchins (Dallas)
- The adjacent suburb of Wilmer is not currently eligible, as it does not share a border with Dallas.
- Lancaster (Dallas)
- Lewisville (Carrollton)
- In 2003, Lewisville voters approved membership in the Denton County Transportation Authority, which levies a 1/2 cent sales tax.
- McKinney (Plano -- at the corner of Texas 121 and Farm to Market Road 2478)
- Mesquite (Dallas)
- Murphy (Plano, Richardson)
- Oak Leaf (Glenn Heights)
- Ovilla (Glenn Heights)
- Parker (Plano)
- Red Oak (Glenn Heights)
- Rockwall (Rowlett, Dallas via Lake Ray Hubbard)
- Sachse (Rowlett, Garland, Richardson)
- Seagoville (Dallas)
- Sunnyvale (Dallas)
- The Colony (Plano, Carrollton)
Criticism of DART
Some people have raised criticisms of the agency.
- One common criticism is that the expense of the system is not worth the results. For example, the Dallas Business Journal has noted that despite "$1 billion in taxpayer spending aimed at reducing traffic congestion", the number of people using DART transit to get to work dropped from 40,000 per day in 1990 to 36,900 per day in 2000. Supporters of DART defend such expenses by pointing to statistics showing not just increasing ridership of DART light rail but measurable increases in rents and revenues from nearby commercial properties. [http://www.lightrailnow.org/features/f_000003.htm Critics of DART argue that these increased rents and revenues are simply a natural result of the government taking money from a wide area and channeling it into concentrated locations, namely the train stations. They believe that the argument that DART has created wealth with its projects is a classic example of the "broken window" fallacy.
- Critics often point to the fact that DART, like other transit agencies, does not cover its operating expenses with farebox and advertising revenues. DART relies on sales tax revenues to make up the difference; from 2002 to 2004, sales tax collections averaged $354 million per year. In 2004 sales tax revenues exceeded operating expenses by $63 million, allowing the agency to apply the excess towards construction of new capital facilities, including rail extensions. While critics argue that DART's planned expansions will likely only increase the size of its annual operating loss, DART proponents respond that the operating cost per passenger mile is at least significantly lower for light rail than for traditional bus service. [http://www.lightrailnow.org/news/n_dal011.htm
- Another criticism of DART is that some areas whose residents pay the DART sales tax do not receive much from DART in return. As the Dallas Morning News has reported, Carrollton, Farmers Branch, and Rowlett have "only bus and paratransit service to show for decades of DART membership" and hundreds of millions of dollars contributed to the agency. However, almost 30 years after joining DART, both Carrollton and Farmers Branch are scheduled to be served by light rail by 2010, with an extension to Rowlett expected in 2012. [http://www.dart.org/mis.asp
See also
External links
Sources
"Dallas Area Rapid Transit"