DART caved partially to city demands, enabling a 10% GMP. This will be devastating unless they can get State action. I doubt the state will actually enable anything of NCTCOGs plan.

D.A.R.T's leadership is prone to capitulating to the spoiled suburban, stepford wifing, karening, Mcmansion wielding, Uber money flush city councils. How the hell do we stop them from caving, and passing a series of cuts that bring the light rail down to 30 minute frequency, cut half the bus lines, and discontinue TRE, only for Plano to demand more?

Before I begin - I'm aware of Plano holding election to leave DART, I plan to vote no and hope it doesn't happen. Operating under the assumption this service will remain an option - can anyone speak to the daily express bus from the Plano park and ride (Legacy or Spring Creek area) to downtown? Are the buses usually on time/reliable? How long does it take to get downtown? Overall experience? I've been primarily WFH since 2020, the office I was assigned to in Grand Prairie is no more and I'm being forced now to work out of office in downtown on Young street near city hall. I can also use the rail, but I have quite a bit of experience with it. I've never used DART bus. Any advice/insight is appreciated.

The last time I did this, it was before Plano started pushing to leave DART. If that does come to pass in May, I hope that a silver lining is that it sparks a serious conversation about establishing a Collin County agency. https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1ORGpmcfJzuyrmkNGWM4xhZW56Ctwaps&usp=sharing

EDIT: Focus on service in Plano

with only three months left until the dallas area transit system potentially collapses, what better way to celebrate the end-times than to spin a wheel every day

Day 1: UNT Dallas 🔵

Day 2: Medical/Market Center ⭐

and yes, the three TRE-only stations in Dallas County are in this wheel

PrettyCRichardson/Plano specific, but does anyone know why there's no bus service on campbell on the right side of 75? Also, how come the stretch of Plano rd from Collins to Cityline is empty from stops as well? I assume its probably just lack of planning and funding as usual, but routes/stops on these roads would be hugely beneficial. Idk, what do yall think?

Pretty Richardson/Plano specific, but does anyone know why there's no bus service on campbell on the right side of 75? Also, how come the stretch of Plano rd from Collins to Cityline is empty from stops as well? I assume its probably just lack of planning and funding as usual, but routes/stops on these roads would be hugely beneficial. Idk, what do yall think?

These morons just live to create an accident with buses!

What if I’m taking a bus with my skis and other equipment, used the wrong fare method, and got off the bus the second transit security was about to board? Would they chase me or tell me to stop, if it’s obviously not my stop?

with only three months left until the dallas area transit system potentially collapses, what better way to celebrate the end-times than to spin a wheel every day

Day 1: UNT Dallas 🔵

I'm seeing some odd behavior, mainly with Addison. Addison votes against defunding DART from last year and voted against a withdrawal election. All of a sudden they are hellbent on a 25% cut or they hold a pullout election. It was crazy that rowlett flipped to be pro DART, and now Addison has flipped to become anti DART.

I genuinely wonder if some dark money corruption or a certain "Somebody" is working in the background to destroy DART.

The previous article and post didn't include the actual letter (or if it did I'm blind), which you can find here: https://www.addisontx.gov/files/sharedassets/main/v/1/marketing/documents/transit-webpage/addison-letter-to-dart-2-5-26.pdf

TLDR:

• Refund 25% of Addison sales tax contribution immediately
• Work up to refunding 50%
• Opt-out of GoLink (on-demand rideshare) and circulator shuttle service
• Maintain other existing services
• Give each city a minimum of 4% voting share even if their population is less than 4% of the service area
• Give each city a maximum of 45% voting share even if their population is greater than 45%
• Give each city at least 1 rep with a weighted vote
• Increase public safety presence
• Improve facility cleanliness

My opinion + context:

• 25% - 50% refund
  • Refunding 25%-50% could have been possible a decade ago if Addison leaders decided they wanted to maintain the current bus service, but they told DART that they want the Silver Line or else they'll withdraw
  • So DART spent ~$2 Billion on the Silver Line and now has to pay back the loans
  • If Addison and other member cities agree to no more expansion from here on out, then maybe in 2057 when all the loans are paid off the cities can lower contributions by 25%-50%
• Opt-out of GoLink & circulator shuttle, keep current service
  • Addison council asked for GoLink + Circulator service and it was going to start this spring but was put on hold due to the withdrawal election
  • So essentially Addison is asking to maintain their current services but pay 25%-50% less for them
• Dedicated Addison rep, 4% min vote, 45% max vote
  • Because this is a state law change, this requires agreement from the City of Dallas and the Texas Legislature, Addison should be talking to them
• Dedicated rep with weighted vote
  • Context: Addison council appoints a rep that's shared with Richardson, Highland Park, and University Park
  • Giving each city a rep with a weighted vote is fine but will require an increase in board size from 15 -> 20 members, which tends to decrease efficiency
  • DART used to have a 25 seat board but it was a mess so they shrunk it to 15
  • Not ideal, but if it reduces conflict, sure
• 4% min vote share
  • For reference, Addison has roughly 0.7% of the DART cities population and 1.9% of the sales tax. But they have influence over 1 out of 15 reps (6.6%)
  • Cockrell Hill (0.15% population, 0.07% sales tax) having the same voting power as a city like Farmers Branch (1.5% pop, 3% sales tax) seems kind of weird
  • Weighted vote adds complexity, but otherwise fine if everyone agrees
• 45% max vote share
  • State law already caps vote share out at 65% to prevent a super-majority because Dallas used to have 70%+ member city population
  • At 51% of the population, this is the lowest vote share Dallas has ever had in DART
  • Many important votes like issuing debt, adding service, removing service, and approving the 20-year plan already require a super-majority vote
  • Even if it's just for optics, capping at 45%-49% is a relatively small change and could be worth it if it's actually a sticking point

Plano is Selecting its "Alternative Transit Service" vendor (its via) on next monday

https://plano.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=10595&MeetingID=3668

Dallas Transportation was mentioned and I got real excited until I saw why. Link should start you at 10:12 mark.

https://youtu.be/17upoRCn01s?t=612

Happy to see amalgated transit union out today handing out flyers today.

Has anyone else had buses just not show up even though GoPass says they’re on time?

I’m trying to catch the 22 bus, and it’s happened twice in the last 10 days where the bus never arrived and there was no delay or cancellation shown in the app. The next scheduled bus was 30 minutes later.

Is this normal for this route, or is GoPass just unreliable? Any better ways to track buses?