Public Transportation

Could Fort Worth's Opposition Derail the Cotton Belt?

In September, transportation planners revealed that they had finally found a way to finance the $2.7 billion Cotton Belt, the 62-mile commuter rail line they hope someday will connect Richardson and Fort Worth. A private consortium, the members of which are still being kept under wraps, had agreed ... More >>

RIP Ed Landrum, the Man Who Founded McKinney Avenue Trolley

It was while pounding the pavement of Old Preston Hollow in search of a certain lost chicken that I noticed some train tracks running through the back yard of a an aging but stately house on Park Lane. For those of you who aren't familiar with Preston Hollow, that isn't normal. No one was home, bu ... More >>

Call Me When DART's Orange Line Gets to the Airport

DART already had the longest light rail system in the country before the $1.3 billion Orange Line added another three stations and several miles with its debut this morning. Sure, DART's soon-to-be 90 miles of track are dwarfed by the subway system in New York City, the L in Chicago, and Washington ... More >>

DART Still Badly Aimed

The longer the Dallas-area light rail system is around, the less of a habit it becomes, according to a story in this morning's Dallas Morning News. The trend over the years has been for ridership to diminish at many stations after people get over the novelty of a train station nearby. In Michael A ... More >>

Read NCTCOG's Long Look-See at How to Fund the Cotton Belt Regional Rail Corridor

​At 1 today the Regional Transportation Council will discuss the doc you see below: the 132-page report finished last month as part of the so-called Cotton Belt Corridor Innovative Finance Initiative, which the North Central Texas Council of Governments touts on today's agenda as "a thorough inves ... More >>

Pants? They Don't Need No Stinkin' Pants to Ride Dallas Area Rapid Transit Light Rail.

I'd forgotten all about Dylan Hollingsworth's shoulda-been classic photo taken in January 2010, during what turned out to be the First Annual No Pants! Ride on Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail. Then a Friend of Unfair Park shot me this video from yesterday's third-annual balls-out trip on a trai ... More >>

DART Prez: Orange Line to DFW's Terminal A Will "Complete That Big-City System"

Dallas Area Rapid TransitA rendering of the Belt Line Station on the Orange Line, the last stop before Dallas-Fort Worth Airport's Terminal A come 2014​Last night Dallas Area Rapid Transit sent word that its board of directors signed off on the design-build contract that'll push the under-construc ... More >>

With $15 Mil From Feds, TxDOT Is Seeking Bids for Dallas-to-Houston High-Speed Rail Study

​It's been quite some time since last we discussed the long-proposed high-speed rail line between Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, which Jennifer Moczygemba, who oversees the Texas Rail Plan at the Texas Department of Transportation, called in April "definitely a priority" for TxDOT. This morning, s ... More >>

Imagine a DFW With Significantly Eased Traffic Congestion. In, Say, The Year 2035. Maybe?

North Central Texas Council of GovernmentsThink traffic is bad now? Click to embiggen the infographic of the future.​Speaking of mass transit ...Today the Regional Transportation Council of the North Central Texas Council of Governments met with the local citizenry at a public meeting at the p ... More >>

"Station Domination," Paid Parking and More Money-Makers the DART Board Will Consider

Pulled up behind one of these two weeks ago. The 7-year-old in the backseat thought it was hilarious.​Last month we noted that the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board is considering selling ads for beer and wine on buses and light rail -- which, right now, is prohibited by policy just because. After t ... More >>

Trolley Trestle Lowered into Cityplace Turntable, Positioned For Influx of More Charming Vehicles (People Too)

Photos by Leslie MinoraThe construction team lowers the turntable trestle at Cityplace Station.​For 14 years, a salvaged portion of a Southern Pacific Railroad bridge from 1909 gathered dust, waiting to be recycled as main support of the trolley turntable now under construction at Cityplace Statio ... More >>

Everything You Needed to Know About That Downtown to Oak Cliff Streetcar Line

Click to embiggen the latest streetcar alignment map that will be presented to the DART board tonight.​On Friday, Keith Manoy, the chief transportation planning officer, spoke to Unfair Park about who will be responsible for what when it comes to the designing, construction, operation and maintena ... More >>

All Aboard For Your Latest Downtown-to-Oak Cliff Streetcar Update

Photo by Patrick MichelsThe council will take one more look at the Kinkisharyo ameriTRAM streetcar on Monday.​On Monday the city council's Transportation and Environment Committee will devote its entire meeting to the subject of streetcars. In fact, there's a field trip involved, as council member ... More >>

DART Board Member Tells Council He's No Longer Associated With Wet-Dry Lawsuit

Jerry Christian​The council's Transportation and Environment Committee is being briefed on streetcar funding at this very moment. We'll get back to that shortly. But a little while ago, the committee was interviewing Dallas Area Rapid Transit board nominees, among them Jerry Christian Sr., who's a ... More >>

City's Going to Need Private-Sector Partners to Design, Build, Operate and Maintain Streetcars

​As we saw this morning, the city's having enough problems funding that 1.6-mile streetcar starter line from Union Station to Methodist Hospital (or close to). So how does it expect to stretch track over more than 40 miles in and three miles around downtown Dallas, which is the ultimate goal? Easy ... More >>

A Former Public Transit Whore Gets Religion

​I used to be such a mass transit whore. I had this post-'60s idea that cars and highways are bad, which they are, so that must mean trains are good. I examine that reasoning now, and I think, "So if smoking crack is bad, does that mean meth is good?" Two days ago I had the pleasure of talkin ... More >>

Panhandlers on DART Trains: In Your Face NYC.

Get Moving! High Oil Prices Good (For Texas), More Rush-Hour Red Line ... and Streetcars

Dallas Area Rapid TransitThe Mockingbird Station along DART's Red Line, which will see expanded rush-hour service beginning April 11​Bloomberg News says this morning that higher oil prices may be bad for Texans, but are good for Texas -- especially the so-called Rainy Day Fund Gov. Rick Perry does ... More >>

Game Delay: With Fresh Snow, Fresh Problems For Dallas Area Rapid Transit's Light Rail

Dr. Chris DreilingThe DART light-rail station across the street from Presbyterian Hospital, where not much is moving at present​Morgan Lyons, director of media relations for Dallas Area Rapid Transit, says this morning that he too is "ready for some warmer weather." Certainly would take some of th ... More >>

Dallas Area Rapid Transit's Towing Buses and Trying to "Unstick" Light Rail

Daniel Rodrigue​Dallas Area Rapid Transit has suspended most of its light-rail service due to ice and wind. There is this update, though: "We are operating 4 trains on the Trinity Railway Express this morning instead of the usual 6. We are trying to operate trains out of Union and T&P about ev ... More >>

Dallas, The Next Portland! You Too, Fort Worth!

Via.​No, seriously. Says so right here, on the DC Streetsblog site, where today they're handing out best-and-worst-of-2010 nods. Something to do with streetcars and bike lanes and Dallas Area Rapid Transit's Green Line expansion. Well, all right. To the kudos!We give our 2010 Streetsie for The Nex ... More >>

Fort Worth Council Votes Against Streetcar Project, Gives Up $25 Million in Federal Grant

​A couple of weeks back we posted that photo of the borrowed streetcar parked in downtown Fort Worth, which city officials said they'd put there to get folks excited about spending that $25 million Urban Circulator Grant. At which point, several Fort Worth-l-i-v-i-n Friends of Unfair Park cautione ... More >>

DART Ducks Out of the God Biz.

Fares on the Trinity Railway Express Now Fair

​Morgan Lyons, spokesman for Dallas Area Rapid Transit, sends word this morning likely to be hailed as good news for riders of the Trinity Railway Express: Starting December 6, the fare zone boundary is moving two miles west -- from the West Irving Station in Dallas County to the CentrePort/DFW Ai ... More >>

Dallas Can Go Ahead and Forget About Fort Worth Ditching That $25-Mil Streetcar Grant

City of Fort Worth​Last week, during the Dallas City Council's Transportation and Environment Committee meeting, chair Linda Koop dropped what appeared to be a bombshell: Fort Worth, she said, was going to return the $25 million Urban Circulator Grant it received in July for its Fort Worth Streetc ... More >>

Ride the Green Line In Less Than 12 Minutes

We're but days away from the Grand Opening of the Green Line, which Dallas Area Rapid Transit officials have been sneak-peeking for local politicos and media members. But, really, why not ride it for yourself. Fast. And: Fun! Don't even have to leave the house, even better.

Pete Sessions on Why He Voted Against Stimulus Bill, Then Asked for Stimulus Funds

​A Friend of Unfair Park forwarded along this Center for Public Integrity round-up of Republicans and conservative Democrats who railed against the the $787-billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ... then asked for stimulus dough anyhow. For our purposes, the piece begins with none other t ... More >>

Under Madrid With Mayor Tom, or: How a Tunnel in Spain May Hint at Dallas's Rail Future

Chris HeinbaughA postcard from Mayor Tom and the Dallas delegation from the tunnel in which they spent part of their first day in Madrid​Funny thing: Yesterday, in the comments below, longtime Friend of Unfair Park Montemalone asked this about the Dallas delegation's trade mission to Europe: "I wo ... More >>

HOT or Not: DART Board Mixed on Proposal to Turn Some HOV Lanes Into Toll Roads

​Some time after 6:30 this evening, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board will approve the $1,256,451,080 FY2011 budget and the Twenty-Year Financial Plan prompted by the sales-tax shortfall -- "The Lost Decade," for those with short-term memory loss. But let's dig deeper into the DART meeting agend ... More >>

"Indefinite Delay" to "Could Be Preserved," the Resurrection of Orange Line to DFW Airport?

​On June 22, Dallas Area Rapid Transit's higher-ups sent the bad news: Three projects had been derailed by that $3-billion drop in sales tax receipts: the section of the Orange Line that's supposed to run from Irving to Terminal A at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the Blue Line extension ... More >>

The City's Head of Transportation Operations Talks About What's Next for Streetcars

University of Texas at Arlington Special Collection​Spent a little time Thursday talking to city officials about the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority's $5-mil loop through downtown. And, almost always, our conversations ended with the person on the other end saying, "You really need to talk to Ke ... More >>

At Bachman Station Today, DART Announces Greenlight for the Green Line

Somebody really shoulda brought Mayor Tom his shades. Awful bright at the Bachman Station today. And, hey, there's Farmers Branch mayor Tim O'Hare smack in the middle!​December 6 -- that's when Dallas Area Rapid Transit officials said the Green Line would be good to go with the completion of the f ... More >>

Everything You Ever Needed to Know About the Second Downtown Light Rail Line and Didn't Know Was Available

Click to enlarge: From the new D2 Alternatives Analysis and Draft Environmental Impact Statement​Late last night I was looking at the agenda for tomorrow's Dallas Area Rapid Transit board meeting when I noticed this: The Planning Committee is scheduled to be briefed on the Alternative Analysis/Dra ... More >>

A Moving Good Friday Tradition Returns with Tonight's DART Stations of the Cross

Church in the CliffLeaving tonight from Mockingbird Station, it's a ride on the spiritual side.​It's not often that community art, religion and public transportation overlap, but they will tonight as the DART Stations of the Cross marks Good Friday along the Red and Blue Lines. Last year's ride w ... More >>

Just Tell Your Fellow Passengers, "But DART Wants Us to Photograph Our Love."

Justin TerveenThe great Justin Terveen captured this couple (in love?) riding DART a while back.​I've asked Dallas Area Rapid Transit spokesman Morgan Lyons if he wants to rethink this idea:Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is inviting its customers to show off their love connection this Valentines ... More >>

Linda Koop: And Where Are the Promised Developments Around DART Rail Stations?

Dallas Area Rapid TransitThis is what DART says Walnut Hill Lane and Denton Drive will look like once the Green Line gets that far into Northwest Dallas. OK ...​We attended today's meeting of the council's Transportation and Environment Committee in the hopes of finding out from DART officials whe ... More >>

Downtown Trolleys Are a Good Idea. So You Know It’ll Never Work.

Off Track, or: Some Notes from the City Council's Downtown Streetcar Briefing

Courtesy Justin CozartThis piece from 1945 must be what DowntownDallas's Kourtny Garrett means when she writes, "I'd say we're coming full circle."​Grudgingly, I have to say that the two Dallas City Council members who asked the best questions at today's council briefing on downtown trolleys were ... More >>

Kay Bailey and Ray Hutchison, Putting the "Green" in DART's Green Line

Ray Hutchison​"Did Kay Bailey Hutchison cross an ethical line by supporting a rail line that is a payday for her husband?" That's the question addressed in this morning's Texas Watchdog piece written by former Observer-er Matt Pulle, who examines the Texas gubernatorial candidate's involvement in ... More >>

Bus Stop

DART Hearts DART

McCain's Talking "Texas T-Bone"

Look Out, Avi, But Forbes Just Gave Folks a Reason to Move to Greenville

A Suburb That's Unhappy With DART

In Downtown Dallas, Perhaps, a Streetcar Named Common Sense

Downtown Train

Kazemzadeh finds art at the station

The Amazing Schutzini

The plan for Dallas' future: blood in the 'hood, Mayor Hunt and the Venerable Rasansky

Belo the Belt

Our mayor joins the Beloans to gang up on the little people

Best Sign That We're a Big City Now

The Opening of DART's CityPlace Light Rail Stop

Hello, Dallas! DART Light Rail is here