Media Contact:
Morgan Lyons
or Robin Stringfellow

November 25, 1998

The ride is on DART!

DART offering free rides in December on Trinity Railway Express and DART Trolley-Buses

The free Trolley-Bus rides begins December 1 and ends December 31. The free Trinity Railway Express service is available on Saturdays only, beginning December 5 and ending January 2.

Trolley-Buses

The free Trolley-Bus rides begin Tuesday, December 1 and run through Thursday, December 31. All Trolley-Bus routes are included in the promotion. The five routes are: 701 (Lancaster Rd.), 702 (NorthPark/Park Lane Station), 703 (Telecom Corridor), 704 (Las Colinas) and

706 (Downtown Dallas). The NorthPark Trolley-Bus operates seven days a week and is free year-round. The remaining Trolley-Bus routes operate Monday through Friday. The regular fare on those routes is 50 cents.

Clowns participating in the annual Adolphus Neiman Marcus Children's parade were among the first passengers on the Trinity Railway Express' inaugural Saturday train.

Trinity Railway Express

On December 5, DART inaugurates permanent Saturday service on the Trinity Railway Express. To celebrate the new trips, DART is offering free rides on the Trinity Railway Express every Saturday through January 2. The debut comes just in time for the Neiman Marcus Adolphus Children's Parade in downtown Dallas and the 12th Annual Christmas Parade in historic downtown Irving. The Dallas parade traverses downtown Dallas beginning at 10:00 a.m. Irving's parade begins at 2:00 p.m.

"We know a lot of people in Irving will take the Saturday train to Dallas for attractions like the Christmas parade, shopping, or West End entertainment," said James Spriggs, president of the Greater Irving/Las Colinas Chamber of Commerce. "By the same token, we hope Dallas residents will come to Irving for our parade, antique shopping in Heritage Park or grabbing a quick bus to Las Colinas, Valley Ranch or Irving Mall."

On Saturdays, the Trinity Railway Express will operate between 8:00 a.m. and 12:35 a.m. Trains will depart the South Irving Transit Center at Rock Island and O'Connor at five minutes past the hour. Departures from Dallas' Union Station at Houston & Young begin at 35 minutes past the hour. With an interim stop at the Medical/Market Center Station near Parkland Memorial Hospital, the total train ride is about 18 minutes.

Regular Monday through Friday commuter rail service operates between 5:55 a.m. and 11:35 p.m. Call 214-979-1111 or see DART's site on the world wide web (www.DART.org) for specific schedule information. The regular Trinity Railway Express fare is $1.00. DART's money-saving monthly passes also are available at all Albertson's and Minyard stores in the DART Service Area.

Trinity Railway Express officials anticipate the new Saturday service will grow just as weekday commuter rail service did after its grand opening in December 1996.

"We started out with just a couple of hundred riders a day, and now we're up to over 2,100 riders each weekday," said Lonnie Blaydes, DART vice president of commuter rail. "Saturday service has been our second-most requested improvement, after service to Fort Worth, so we're hopeful for a positive reception in the marketplace."

Saturday workers are also expected to take advantage of the new service, noted Spriggs. "We can't get enough workers in Irving, so this new service will help our employment picture," he said.

A joint venture of DART and the Fort Worth T, the Trinity Railway Express service to Fort Worth is expected to begin in late 2000. With three stops in Dallas County and three in Tarrant County, the full Dallas-Fort Worth trip is expected to take about 60 minutes.

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