Those thinking any city plan for anything is a multiyear implementation plan a business might make for expansion are fooling themselves. All these city plans are political moves to implement and gather political support for the next bonding referendum. As soon as the referendum has passed or failed,...
Airports — especially huge busy peripheral ones like Heathrow — are sprawling by necessity, and as a result are antithetical to the land uses where transit works best. Of course it'll be faster to take a car (unless you're starting right at an express transit hub). Heathrow is more a kin to DFW tha...
This just popped up on my FB video feed. An 8 minute report from 1966 about a BBC employee using his feet and public transit to take a flight from London to Manchester. I guess it would be called a Vlog today. It is full of dry British humor. In most large cities today it would be the same challeng...
OrangeMike wrote:Your original post mentioned upgrading, not luxury. The blue vinyl is a definite upgrade from the blue velour. Don't ride DART if vinyl is beneath you.
I'm sorry, but I consider vinyl a downgrade to velour seats. I have never ridden a DART bus, the stigma is real.
All transit agencies wishing to encourage more bus riders and overcome the perception or stigma of buses being for the economic disadvantage could easily do so simply by upgrading the seats in the buses. DART is replacing the ancient absorbent upholstery with new blue vinyl, which will help in that...
True, but that's an entirely different argument all together. I'm simply talking about which option is more environmentally friendly. To be clear, while I do care about the environment, my main motivator behind this 'energy' discussion is to simply encourage more ridership. I'm just suggesting that...
I've got a Bachman HO scale TRE trainset (with the streamlined F59PHI loco, two coaches, and a cab car) that I picked up on eBay for about $325 all together several years back. Nowadays that same set (if you can even find one on eBay) is running easily double that. Nice to see another manufacturer ...
I wish to let every HO modeler aware that a well known company from Canada is releasing limited editions of TRE F59PH locomotives and BiLevel cars this year (2021). So, if you are interested, now is the time to pre-order them at your local hobby shop. As an aside, I wish other DCTA, TexRail, and DAR...
Virgin has finally tested a Hyperloop vehicle with humans aboard last month. The yet to be designed vehicle will have the capacity of 28 passengers. Let me repeat that once more, 28. That is less capacity than an intercity or school bus. The top speed attained by the test vehicle was slightly more t...
Elon Musk is moving as much as he can his companies away from California. Texas, Nevada, and Germany have been the lucky states and countries with new offices, factories, and jobs. It does not mean there will many future tunnels in Texas.
Initially, I was for the teardown of 345. Now I believe, a tunnel or something below grade would be a healthy compromise between both sides. Yes, it’s more expensive. But it’s also gives more opportunities to restitch some of the street grid. 345 may not sit by a large body of water or really anyth...
Seattle's Alaska Way Viaduct was about to fall down, was a hazard on the last earthquake, and would probably self demolish itself with the next earthquake. I-345 in comparison is in much better shape, is not in an earthquake zone, is not about to self demolish itself with the next tornado, and does ...
What's the chances of DART extending rail service to Cedar Hill? As long as Duncanville and Cedar Hill remain non member cities, zero. Light rail lines are fairly expensive to build, DART needs sales taxes revenues to lessen the financial blow. DART will not spend money in non member cities while t...
Here's my list of signs I've seen over the last few years. One thing malfunctioning signs are good for are showing rarely used signs. Also, trains coming into DFW run through just about the entire roll in the process of changing from DFW to Not in Service (this list isn't in that order). 1 - Westmo...
DART light rail trains roll signs can hold around 26 destinations. DART has 63 stations, there is no way they can include all the stations on a single roll. So which stations would you include with the many colors. Let's try to include all the stations that trains may terminate their run on a regula...
I'll tell you what they were thinking, that they did not want the city to go broke. Revenues are down, that is why those responsible for maintaining a healthy purse are coming up with ingenious ways to move overtime pay into like time off. How bad is the budget? Here's the latest pdf posted by Dalla...
The tunnels ought to have access to the subway station, that does not bypass the fare gates. Check out the latest DART D2 video, and take note where the fare gates are located. At Cental, the fare gates are on the same level as the streets, all tunnel access would be lower and well within the fare ...
tamtagon wrote:The tunnels really ought to have access into the subway.
If the tunnels have access to the D2 subway line, what would be the purpose of having access fare gates? That is a decision DART must make, open access as much as possible or restrict access as much as possible with fare gates.
DART could tie the Texas Central HSR station to Union Station with its sole remaining RDC using the freight tracks, or just extend all the TRE trains there. They all idle for some time at Union Station anyways, they could just idle for less time a mile further south. If they did, there would be an e...
I did notice that there was controlled entry into the stations. I wonder if that would contribute to people feeling "safer" riding the train. I know that having the gates won't prevent 100% of folks sneaking aboard (especially if the above-ground stations are still wide open, but maybe th...
Number of polls in Dallas = more than 456 Just FYI, I think that's the number for Dallas County, not the city. Obviously a lot of the county is not in the city, and the city extends into five counties (which I believe is the most in the U.S.). Yes, it was Dallas County. Yes, it was also San Francis...
San Francisco has 4 times the population of Dallas, but only 60% of land area. Huh? SF population = 883k. Dallas = 1.345M. The big problem is that the map for Dallas only shows the early voting locations. There were a lot more open on election day. A statistics that might surprise TNWE. Number of p...
JSX flies Embraer ERJ-135 and -145 jets with a seating capacity of just 30 passengers. One single Texas Central car in its eight car train can carry twice as many passengers, therefore the HSR train should be able to carry 16 times as many passengers. Embraer jets are designed to service smaller cit...
The old conceptual renderings for the station included a skybridge connection to the Dallas Convention Center DART station. The newer renderings don't show off a view of such a connection but I imagine it would still be the plans. Moving walkways like in airports would make this a very short hop an...
How close the train stations are to public transit is not as important as many suggest. This train will ultimately sink or swim financially depending upon its ability to attract business travelers who will ride the train twice a week - if not more often. Sure, attracting vacationers visiting familie...
You don't understand what is happening. Using your DART analogy, imagine if the DART Board members were selling DART all their buses,trains, bus stop shelters and uniforms. Can't do that under the law. Plus the DART management were working side deals to own parking lots and privatizing the parking ...
^ That has nothing to do though with building an actual park. The TPC was supposed to build a park between the levees. That's not happening. I find it super weird that the TPC has created their own development corporation as well that is chartered with the state. Why would a 501c3 non profit tasked...
I personally would think they would want to downplay the fact that an electric substation is across from a rail station, instead of things that people riding a train might want to go to. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, having worked for a local utility over 30 years, electrical substations ha...
To my surprise, the law in question was changed in 2013. Read https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/grant-programs/art-and-non-functional-landscaping-federally-funded-public-transit To keep it simple as much as possible, classic art like statues are now prohibited, but art like functional desig...
That Shiloh Road station rendering looks like a hidden level in GoldenEye or something. Kind of hilarious, but I suppose a kitschy theme isn't the worst thing. I have a feeling the UTD Station is going to be heavily utilized. I really hate that DART feels compelled to make each station have a uniqu...
Forbes: Waymo Taps Texas As Its Robot Truck Hub With Dallas Depot. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2020/08/25/waymo-taps-texas-as-its-robot-truck-hub-with-new-dallas-depot/ "Waymo, the leading U.S. self-driving vehicle company, is expanding its robot truck program by moving into Texas...
I have no idea who is actually doing better, small shops in large shopping districts or large stand alone stores. Both attract their own style of shoppers. In Texas during the hot and humid summer season, outdoor shopping will never be popular. We need air conditioning. That's why indoor malls becam...
What most of Austin's metro at grade level will look like https://www.railjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Austin-texas-Capital-metro-Project-connect-transit-1.jpg Basically similar to what DART did on South Lancaster for the Blue Line and in Las Colinas for the Green Line. You know, the very ...
I took a closer look at the plans, and if DART truly intends to "wall off" Silver Line access from the south and make the only pedestrian ingress/egress via the new parking lot or elevated Green Line platform, that's even worse. All of the existing bus bays are to the south, so any Silver...
Hopefully, the city can fast-track some of the park improvements since the pandemic is gifting the park with time to work. Get in there and double as much of the work as possible. I would love to see a dramatic expansion of working greenhouses with Fair Park approved art deco architecture - vocatio...
I'm shocked that there is not yet a high enough median income to justify a decent grocery store in the area yet. Sprouts would be great in Oak Cliff! And they seem to open in more mixed income areas, but for whatever reason it doesn't look like it gonna happen anytime soon. Cox Farms is ok for some...
Great information, that's something Ive always wondered about the Boring Company and why he is so focused on people movers as opposed to rail. Follow the money when wondering why companies do what they do. Elon Musk heads the Boring Company which digs tunnels. Elon Musk also heads Tesla, which make...
In the image showing a Frisco line, all other previous images for 15-20 years show that going to DT Carrollton and jetting down the west side of the green line down towards an Irving TRE station. Is this drawn correctly? I realize it's not really the subject matter and perhaps it wasn't in line w/N...
Saw this article about the Boring Company and their project in San Bernardino that will connect the Ontario Airport to the nearest rail station. https://www.dailybulletin.com/2020/05/27/elon-musks-boring-co-proposes-tunnel-to-ontario-airport-as-alternative-to-light-rail/ Might be time to inquire ab...
Doesn't CNN have a bureau in Dallas? If they still do (because I've heard they had one in Dallas before), it would be silly of them to put Dallas down like that if they go to the trouble of having a bureau here. I guess they can present news and data how they want, but you'd think if they really di...
Beyond station TOD partnerships or ground leases of CapMetro’s own land, is there a scope of TIF / TIRZ in Texas that can appropriately allow public investment to share in the property valuation that it increases around transit lines? Not within the Texas Transportation Code. The Texas laws allow i...
Pocket tracks aren't strictly necessary for turning a train - almost every station has crossover rails, so as long as there's a back up driver ready at the platform and next train isn't due for more than ~10 mins, it's possible to turn a train at the platform (plus the signaling/ATP will prevent a ...
As a reminder where DART has pocket tracks, there are just a few on the system. Green south at Lawnview, Green and Orange north at Bachman, Blue line north at LBJ/Skillman, Red line north at LBJ/Central, Red and Blue south just before spur to maintenance shops. There is also one just north of Victo...
Yes- when I say Parker Road, I mean the entire corridor. Regardless of whether the extra trains are meant to ease crowding, or just increase frequency, there's no benefit to running every single train *through* downtown when the rush-hour ridership patterns are so heavily weighted to the northern p...
Yes, thanks for sharing!! The elimination of 'beg buttons' seems to be a no-brainer for me. I've honestly never understood why we needed to have a button to begin with. Beg buttons for signal lights for pedestrians are located outside, usually exposed to the sun for most of the day. Covid-19 has a ...
I think the state is being derelict by not putting a billion dollars into the second downtown route. Every penny DART collects in sales taxes cycles through the State of Texas. The State in the next legislature could null DART's ability to collect any sales taxes. All it would take is a bill passin...
That's a good point. And it's not just the initial expense of purchasing the car, you also have maintenance, gas, insurance, etc. All true! The key point being that individuals pay 100% of the cost of owning, running, and maintaining the vehicle. I suggest public transit would be almost as expensiv...
DART does not invest money. DART spends money. Nothing it does has any expectation of achieving a profit. Example: DART is currently paying $30 million per year in interest on money it has borrowed for the silver line, which their own projections say will only generate $3 million per year in fares....
There's no ramp for the existing elevated Green Line platform though - the required ADA redundancy is provided by having two elevators (three if you count the one at the south end of the ped walkway over Belt Line). What is special about the Silver line that it needs a ramp connection in addition t...