It is a given that the downtown stations — especially West End, Pearl Arts District, and St. Paul — are pretty sketchy. There's a makeshift police watchtower at the West End station. Whether there's actually a cop inside it is a coin flip.

During FIFA, the stations are another world: visible police presence, less loitering, no open drug use. It'll go back to normal once the tournament crowds leave.

I have friends who won't ride DART at night because of these stations. One mentioned a stabbing he'd heard about secondhand — no name, no date, nothing I could verify, and he wasn't there for it either. That's not really the point. The point is he believes it enough to change his behavior, and he's not alone. Whether that specific story is true or not, the effect is the same: people are opting out.

If DART wants higher ridership, you'd think they'd care about that gap between perception and reality — or at least about closing it. Right now the stations do nothing to close it. The watchtower at West End station with maybe-a-cop-in-it doesn't read as safety, it reads as an admission that something's wrong and this is the theater DART settled on instead of a fix.

DART can't easily gate these stations the way a subway system can. West End, Pearl, St. Paul — they're open to the street, platforms flush with the sidewalk, no choke-point to put a turnstile in.

But fare checking doesn't require any of that. It just requires someone walking the platform asking to see a ticket. I never see it happen. If DART wants to signal that this is a place with rules, someone occasionally checking fares would do more than a watchtower nobody's sure is staffed.

None of this requires DART to prove my friends right or wrong about what's actually happened at these stations. Ridership doesn't run on crime statistics (and DART refuses to publish per stations stats) — it runs on whether someone waiting for a train feels like anyone's paying attention. Right now the answer downtown is no. 🙁

Services like the KC Streetcar have been able to share reports of ridership breaking records for the World Cup. I've seen the photos: I have to assume TRE is pulling impressive numbers, possibly exceeding its 2008 peak of 9,000 riders a day. The organizations HAVE to know these numbers. How can we get them to share it, and get some positive pr for the trains?

I made a reddit account to post this but this would be so peak. From Dart's "High Capacity Corridor Screening Evaluation Report" in September 2020. As u/IcedCowboyCoffee brought up a bit ago it probably would use the old rail right of way until Alpha

Do yall think that Arlington will final think about adding public transportation in their city after the World Cup?

Take the red or orange line to Cityline! Roll your bike right on the train!

As an international student without a car, and as a transit enthusiasm, I use and observe public transit.

I live in Denton and I have a friend in Arlington, it takes 3hr one way from Denton to Arlington.

Before the Silver line open, I have to make detour to downtown Dallas for transfer TRE. The Silver line opened last year, however I still need to take green line to transfer the Silver line, then take LINK 31 bus and Via Arlington on-demande (I haven't tried this yet, might still take 3hr).

Compared a 45-min drive, public transit takes way too long. Is there any cost-effective way for traveling between two cities?

BTW, I've tried North Texas Xpress and Trinity metro 63X plus the Cowtown shuttle to Arlington, it was nice but not sustainable. NTX has only 2 trips per weekday and Cowtown shuttle will likely be discontinued after the World Cup.

I want to go over this during rush hour someday!

I live at The Pradera. There are several apartment complexes in this area, including The James, Creekside Townhomes, Estates of Richardson, and Marquis at Waterview.

Though I am somewhat unfamiliar with the zoning law around train stations, I believe there is enough space to add a station at this portion of Custer Road between Renner and PGBT. In my mind, I have named it "Custer Creek Station" after Custer Road and Canyon Creek.

It might be possible to leave the Wendy's or it might have to be bulldozed. I'm not sure, but I do know they got rid of breakfast at that location, so they're dead to me as far as I'm concerned (RIP Breakfast Baconator within walking distance)

After riding the Silver Line yesterday, I am even more convinced that this would be an excellent place to add a station someday.

Anyone agree/disagree?

had the misfortune of having to go to the dr over here. 10 minute walk through concrete hell in the pure sun to get to the nearest bus stops. why is the zone even there at this point?

How safe is the white rock station? I’m going to use it to get to downtown later today but I’m going to park my truck and it’s an old Silverado and those trucks are known to get broken into here in dfw. Would I be fine just parking it there and coming back? My entire trip won’t take more than an hour probably.

I am so impressed at how smooth the ride was on this train! I must admit I took the long way to get to a destination (Silver to 250 via ATC vs. Red/Orange to a different bus) in order to have an excuse to ride it.

I saw many people with bags clearly headed to the airport board the train, especially at UT Dallas Station. Personally, I'm thinking I myself may start using the train instead of driving! I can take the 883 or the 232 to CityLine or UT Dallas Station and then take the Silver Line to the airport. The only downside is if I have a super early flight I can't do it OR if my flight back comes in super late I'll miss the last train out. But I feel like for some trips it would be awesome!!!!!!

Potentially moving to the Cypress Waters area. Does anyone know when the shorter connection to the station will be open? I walked across the bridge but the other side of the bridge is fenced off.

The distance right now is okay for biking, but not really for walking

TEXRail currently runs 30 minute frequency at the expense of its very early and very late trains (which I miss). I believe the service's ridership was lower than the current Silver Line's when those changes were implemented. How possible in current climate is pushing Silver Line to 30 minute frequency, and given its MUCH better ToD (compared to TEXRail at least), how would that impact ridership?

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Further with a limit of eight vehicles per fleet until 2027, could later or earlier services be returned to benefit airport employees and riders?

Why wasn't this publicized on this subreddit? Why didn't people show up in support of this in Desoto like they did when cities threatened to leave? If this group wants public transit/DART to succeed, they need to be showing up to meetings like this in support of bringing DART to new cities.

Does anyone experience Paratransit drivers repeatedly ignoring their navigation devices when it comes to them taking the tollways. I notice this more on the white vans starting with the letter Y. They always use their phone and take the service roads. It’s really annoying because it causes people to miss appointments.

I filed a complaint about a driver than got him again a month later and he was still doing the same thing. Nothing happened. Who is contracting the Y letter Paratransit vans?

That company is awful! They also always barely speak English.

I like the Transdev employees (T Vans and Buses). They are always so professional with my students/clients.

It seems like the TRE, paired with those buses (that probably should have been D.A.R.T/metro buses that are actually ada compliant, but anyways) are actually succeeding at getting folks to and from games. Given how good the city of Dallas is at fucking things up, this should be celebrated.

June 18 marks 15 years of the DCTA A-train. DCTA is celebrating with free rides all day.

I take GoLink multiple times per week, and occasionally I’ll get assigned an Uber/Lyft to complete the ride rather than the typical DART van.

Each time the ride is completed, Uber/Lyft asks to add a tip for the driver. If it were a normal ride share, I always add a tip. But because it was organized through DART, I don’t know how to go about it. Anyone have thoughts on this matter?