 the offical newsletter of DALLAS AREA RAPID TRANSIT - Spring 2009 |
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A commuter revolution is under way as North Texans reject the expense and hassles of driving alone and embrace the value, comfort and convenience of public transit.
They jumped on DART in record numbers in the summer of 2008 as gasoline topped $4 a gallon. They kept coming in the fall and winter even as prices fell below $2, logging 13 million more trips than in 2007. With the U.S. economy in recession, saving money by riding transit has become a smart practice for many households regardless of the cost of gas. And, DART's growing transit system makes it easy.
"It's really a nice savings," says Jerilynn Armstrong, who rides DART Rail from White Rock Station to Pearl Station daily with an employee pass. "It's wonderful to save gas and it's good for the environment. It's a smart decision and as easy as getting back into the habit of riding the school bus when you were a kid, except that the train comes every 10 minutes instead of having just one chance."
Navigating an Uncertain Economy
As vibrant as ridership growth was through FY08 and well into '09, DART is keeping a close eye on economic conditions. North Texas is faring better than most of the state and the nation, but significant layoffs were announced by regional employers in early 2009 and more are possible. We know from experience that people without jobs no longer need to commute.
Most critical for DART to watch is a decline in personal spending. Close to 60% of the agency's operating budget is funded from a 1 cent sales tax in our 13 member cities, and transit sales tax receipts through the first quarter of FY 2009 were 6.2% lower than the first quarter of 2008. DART is responding by trimming costs and working smart. Operating expenses were 7.4% under budget during the first quarter, and we’re identifying $3 to $5 million in cost savings through September that will be essentially invisible to transit customers."This will be a difficult year for all public agencies, but I believe we have taken the right steps to respond to the current situation and meet the needs of our customers and employees," says DART President/Executive Director Gary Thomas.
Improving the Ride
Economic uncertainty is not delaying programs already funded and under way to bring new service to a growing transit market and improve reliability, comfort and efficiency.Roomier "Super Light Rail Vehicles" (SLRVs) are being added to the system at the rate of one per week. The new SLRVs have low floors that, combined with renovations at all existing rail stations by September 2010, will allow passengers to board and disembark without negotiating steps. Station renovations in the Downtown Dallas transit mall were completed in 2008.
The ridership surge in 2008 highlighted the need for more capacity at park and ride lots at the outer edges of the DART Service Area, and expanded parking lots at Glenn Heights, Parker Road and Bush Turnpike are projected to open by the end of the summer.
DART's already-green system is getting greener as we upgrade the bus fleet beginning in 2012 with 695 new vehicles that meet new federal standards for exhaust emissions. We're also outfitting all buses with bike racks that will be a boon for bike-and-ride commuters and weekend cyclists.
Expanding Transit Options
We're also continuously expanding the options for how people commute.In addition to the flexibility provided by new weekday and Saturday runs on the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) between downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth, DART introduced new Flex Service to give bus riders more personalized service in selected neighborhoods.
DART's family of annual passes continues to be a popular employee benefit, with approximately 65,000 commuters at 182 companies riding with their employers paying all or part of the way. Meanwhile, occasional transit riders are enjoying the added flexibility of DART's new seven-day pass introduced in 2008.
If a train or bus isn't going your way, DART still can help you share the ride. The popular Vanpool program grew from 117 to 145 groups in FY08 and will total 198 by the end of 2009.
Suzie Campbell, an accountant with Texas Instruments (TI), formed a vanpool in 2008 and got immediate relief for her hour-long commute from home in McKinney to Forest Lane in Dallas. "I filled it up with riders right away," she says. Traveling DART's new high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane on Central Expressway, Campbell and her pool cut their commute time to 30 minutes. And with TI paying the $200 monthly van fee, each rider pays just $15 a month for fuel. As for her own car? "I can fill it up, go for about three weeks, and I still have half a tank left," says Campbell.
Vanpoolers and carpoolers alike have gotten a big boost in the past 12 months with expansion of the region's network of HOV lanes to 75 miles – further cementing the Dallas area's reputation as the leading carpool city in the nation with 18% of the workforce traveling together.
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