DART: Bus system

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TNWE
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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby TNWE » 11 May 2020 12:22

Tucy wrote:
Hannibal Lecter wrote:^ Keep in mind that DART itself has no desire to build D2.

The push for the subterranean albatross is coming from the Dallas City Council, which has never met a boondoggle it didn't love -- as long as another taxing authority was on the hook for it.


In fairness, Dallas City Council has been perfectly happy to use their own taxing authority to fund boondoggles.


Ironically enough, the decision by city and county leadership to respond to coronavirus as if Dallas was just like NYC has kneecapped every local taxing authority's capacity for years. D2 was already on life support before this, sooner or later DART is gonna have to cut the engineers and consultants loose to pay bus driver salaries. On the other hand, if there's no excess money for boondoggles, the "urbanist" grifters that have infested Dallas for the last decade may be forced to move on and find another city willing to fund their real-life SimCity game...

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Parker Road
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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Parker Road » 15 May 2020 15:28

TNWE wrote:I took the survey as well, though some questions seemed poorly designed, like the one asking respondents to choose between a scenario where buses ran on parallel streets at lower frequency, with a short 2 min walk from home to the stop (coverage) or a scenario where there was a single route at high frequency with a longer 6 min walk (ridership). However, they didn't mention the possibility of timing routes in the coverage scenario so that someone could catch one route at the top of the hour with a shorter walk, or a different route at 30 after with a longer walk.


A key principle behind Walker's ridership-focused redesigns involve not having to time your trips to local transit. It shows up at the same place at a reliable time interval, frequently enough to where riders don't have to plan their lives around it and can just show up to a stop knowing a bus is coming soon. Spreading the routes out to cover different "parts" of the hour needlessly complicates this process by requiring riders to know which direction and length they need to walk and at what times. It also raises the barrier of entry for transit users and discourages transit oriented land use patterns that would arise from rigid and frequent local routes.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby itsjrd1964 » 13 Aug 2020 13:24

DART is installing sanitizer and mask dispensers on all its buses. A picture shows them being placed after the entry/farebox area and before the rows of seating.

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2020/08/12/dar ... -pandemic/

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TNWE
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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby TNWE » 11 Jan 2021 11:59

DART is looking to purchase a "long range battery electric bus" with some remaining funds from the grant they received to buy the 7 Proterra buses for D-Link (that have since been repurposed for regular routes). This bus is also made by Proterra and has a stated range of 275 miles. Looks like they want to use it as a testbed for electric buses on longer routes, with this one being based at the NW bus facility near Bachman station.

https://www.dart.org/about/board/boarda ... 2jan21.pdf

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby DPatel304 » 11 Jan 2021 12:30

Good to know!

I really would like to see DART emphasize how much 'greener' and environmentally friendlier it is to take the bus. Even if the buses aren't necessarily electric, it's still much more beneficial to the environment. There's still such a stigma to riding the bus, but I know a lot of people do care about the environment and that might be a good way to encourage more ridership.

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Hannibal Lecter
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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Hannibal Lecter » 11 Jan 2021 14:48

DPatel304 wrote:I really would like to see DART emphasize how much 'greener' and environmentally friendlier it is to take the bus.


Except they're not. In the real world, unless a bus is packed (rare around here) private cars use less energy per passenger mile.

BTU per passenger mile, from U.S. DOT:
Image

Also from the U.S. government: https://afdc.energy.gov/data/10311

More info: https://creativeloafing.com/content-197 ... a-waste-of

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby DPatel304 » 11 Jan 2021 14:58

But energy is being exerted by the buses already regardless if people right them or not. More people riding buses that already exist and are already circulating would mean energy savings, right?

I understand that buses only start to make sense after a certain number of people are riding it, but what is that exact number? I couldn't really make sense of the numbers to figure out that number, and the article linked doesn't seem to disclose that amount either.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby DPatel304 » 11 Jan 2021 15:03

A car expends 5,465 Btu per vehicle-mile.
Four cars expend 21,860 Btu.
A bus expends 16,509 Btu.
Does that mean that a bus expends less energy than four cars?

Am I understanding the data correctly?

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Hannibal Lecter » 11 Jan 2021 17:25

DPatel304 wrote:A car expends 5,465 Btu per vehicle-mile.
Four cars expend 21,860 Btu.
A bus expends 16,509 Btu.
Does that mean that a bus expends less energy than four cars?

Am I understanding the data correctly?


Using the table above, on a per vehicle mile basis a bus uses about as much energy as seven cars (39,906 vs 5,465). But what counts is BTUs per passenger mile. On that basis buses look better, but per the table private cars are still more energy efficient at average loads, 3,437 for cars vs 4,348 for buses.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Hannibal Lecter » 11 Jan 2021 17:40

DPatel304 wrote:But energy is being exerted by the buses already regardless if people right them or not. More people riding buses that already exist and are already circulating would mean energy savings, right?

I understand that buses only start to make sense after a certain number of people are riding it, but what is that exact number? I couldn't really make sense of the numbers to figure out that number, and the article linked doesn't seem to disclose that amount either.


True, but remember that DART can't afford to carry a non-trivial number of additional riders. They lose $30+ per ride per passenger. We're talking about a business model so screwed up that they've threatened to sue other transit providers to stop them from bringing them more customers.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby TNWE » 11 Jan 2021 19:31

Hannibal Lecter wrote:
DPatel304 wrote:But energy is being exerted by the buses already regardless if people right them or not. More people riding buses that already exist and are already circulating would mean energy savings, right?

I understand that buses only start to make sense after a certain number of people are riding it, but what is that exact number? I couldn't really make sense of the numbers to figure out that number, and the article linked doesn't seem to disclose that amount either.


True, but remember that DART can't afford to carry a non-trivial number of additional riders. They lose $30+ per day per passenger. We're talking about a business model so screwed up that they've threatened to sue other transit providers to stop them from bringing them more customers.


To be perfectly clear, there's not a giant debt clock that adds $30 every time the IR passenger counters register a customer boarding a bus or train. For any given transportation network (Uber, Amtrak, DART, Southwest Airlines, etc), there's a fixed cost that goes into operating "the system" that's going to be the same whether there's 1 passenger or 1 million. There's also the variable cost, which is much more dependent on the number of passengers using the system, and the type of vehicle used - a single Uber has much lower variable costs than a bus so it makes more sense for transporting 2 people, but transporting 20 people via Uber requires ~5 cars & drivers whereas you'd still just need that one bus to move 20 people.

DART "loses money on every passenger" based on the fixed+variable costs of operating their *current* network compared to the *current* fare revenue. The extra weight of one more passenger might cost a penny worth of CNG or electricity, but they're paying $1-3 per ride. More riders would in general decrease their per-passenger losses, so long as the additional ridership isn't concentrated on the routes already operating at or near capacity (that was the issue with the exurbs - they were dumping passengers at the extremes of the system where rush-hour trains were already running full. If some non-DART member city dumped a bunch of commuters off at the East Transfer center and they all paid full fare to ride one of the usually-deserted bus routes from there, DART would probably be thrilled...)

There's also the argument that DART might more than double ridership if they doubled all their bus services (60 minute headways become 30, 30 become 15, 15 become 7.5, etc) because more folks could get where they need to go in a reasonable amount of time without having to plan their day around being at a bus stop at a given time or worrying about missing a train because the bus was late.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby DPatel304 » 11 Jan 2021 19:53

Hannibal Lecter wrote:Using the table above, on a per vehicle mile basis a bus uses about as much energy as seven cars (39,906 vs 5,465).


Whoops, you're right I was using the wrong number.

Hannibal Lecter wrote:But what counts is BTUs per passenger mile. On that basis buses look better, but per the table private cars are still more energy efficient at average loads, 3,437 for cars vs 4,348 for buses.


All that means is that a car with 1.59 people is more efficient than a bus with 9.2 people, correct? If we encourage more people to ride buses, wouldn't we have more than 9.2 people per bus, making buses eventually the more energy efficient option?

Hannibal Lecter wrote:True, but remember that DART can't afford to carry a non-trivial number of additional riders. They lose $30+ per day per passenger. We're talking about a business model so screwed up that they've threatened to sue other transit providers to stop them from bringing them more customers.


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 maybe DART try and reduce the bus stigma by emphasizing environmental benefits to riding the bus.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby electricron » 12 Jan 2021 08:40

DPatel304 wrote: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 maybe DART try and reduce the bus stigma by emphasizing environmental benefits to riding the bus.

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. As long as bus seats are no where as comfortable as seats in private vehicles, that stigma will persist. The stigma exists for a reason, acknowledge that fact.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby OrangeMike » 12 Jan 2021 12:33

electricron wrote: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 regard.

DPatel304 wrote:I'm just suggesting that maybe DART try and reduce the bus stigma by emphasizing environmental benefits to riding the bus.


Maybe something along the lines of these ads from Edmonton Transit System and Midttrafik in Denmark would help reduce bus stigma. :lol:

https://youtu.be/VUfgmQsqJvw

https://youtu.be/zFBEKt-WCT8

https://youtu.be/yn2HM0f2uDM

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby electricron » 12 Jan 2021 15:06

OrangeMike wrote:
electricron wrote: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 regard.

Vinyl is not what anyone would call luxurious. Vinyl is the symbol of cheapness. Detroit stopped selling vinyl seats in private vehicles 40 years ago. ;)

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby OrangeMike » 12 Jan 2021 16:24

electricron wrote:
OrangeMike wrote:
electricron wrote: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 regard.

Vinyl is not what anyone would call luxurious. Vinyl is the symbol of cheapness. Detroit stopped selling vinyl seats in private vehicles 40 years ago. ;)


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.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Parker Road » 12 Jan 2021 18:08

January 2021 DART board meeting — redesign update:
https://www.dart.org/about/board/boarda ... 2jan21.pdf

Interesting things to note:
- Initial plans calling for 15 minutes or better frequencies along Malcolm X, Gaston, Ross-Greenville (Matilda?), Cedar Springs, Jefferson radiating outward from downtown.
- 20/30 minute routes forming grids in busier areas, with 40-60 minute routes largely staying the same as today.
- Nearly doubling the number of Golink zones to compensate for lost fixed routes in more suburban areas. Most noticeable in East Plano, Carrollton, and north Irving.

Of course it's still preliminary but so far I like where this is going given DART's limited resources. Hopefully Golink can serve all of these places adequately!

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby electricron » 12 Jan 2021 19:40

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.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby OrangeMike » 12 Jan 2021 20:06

electricron wrote:
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.


At least you admit you don't know what you're talking about. People who do ride DART buses and trains that have the velour upholstery quickly learn to touch the seat with the back of their hand before sitting down. The new nonabsorbent upholstery material will be a vast improvement.

_____
Edit to add two more things, then I'm done discussing this topic:
1. DART trains are much, much worse than any of the buses in terms of grossness in and on the upholstery and overall cleanliness, so a lot if not all of the perceived bus stigma is actually misplaced.
2. DART express buses that haul suburban commuters to points downtown and back already have upgraded seats that are much better than the ones on buses on the regular routes. They are plusher, more cushioned, reclining, and even more comfortable than many car seats.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Parker Road » 12 Jan 2021 20:42

OrangeMike wrote:
electricron wrote:
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.


At least you admit you don't know what you're talking about. People who do ride DART buses and trains that have the velour upholstery quickly learn to touch the seat with the back of their hand before sitting down. The new nonabsorbent upholstery material will be a vast improvement.

_____
Edit to add two more things, then I'm done discussing this topic:
1. DART trains are much, much worse than any of the buses in terms of grossness in and on the upholstery and overall cleanliness, so a lot if not all of the perceived bus stigma is actually misplaced.
2. DART express buses that haul suburban commuters to points downtown and back already have upgraded seats that are much better than the ones on buses on the regular routes. They are plusher, more cushioned, reclining, and even more comfortable than many car seats.


I wish this forum had reacts because everything here is spot on.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby electricron » 14 Jan 2021 17:26

If DART’s bus passengers can not control their body fluids and keep the seats dry, there is no hope for the stigma of public transit ever going away.

I can afford to not ever ride on a pig sty.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Parker Road » 14 Jan 2021 19:08

DART doesn't need to worry about hiding any "stigma" endemic to public transit. If DART wants to grow its transit ridership it needs to provide more accessible and more frequent service. People don't ride in Dallas because bus service is terribly routed, communicated and scheduled (and we've spent the last half-century zoning for land uses that are bad for transit). But if you've never ridden the bus just because of a "stigma"... it's not because of the seats.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby OrangeMike » 14 Jan 2021 20:18

electricron wrote:If DART’s bus passengers can not control their body fluids and keep the seats dry, there is no hope for the stigma of public transit ever going away.

I can afford to not ever ride on a pig sty.


Sometimes people spill water on the “luxurious” velour. Sometimes people spill coffee. It happens far more frequently on the trains anyway.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby quixomniac » 15 Jan 2021 18:46

OrangeMike wrote:
electricron wrote:If DART’s bus passengers can not control their body fluids and keep the seats dry, there is no hope for the stigma of public transit ever going away.

I can afford to not ever ride on a pig sty.


Sometimes people spill water on the “luxurious” velour. Sometimes people spill coffee. It happens far more frequently on the trains anyway.


Some people also just like to see the world burn :twisted:
Some homeless people purposefully pee on seats.

Ironically, it is because Buses are underused that they are dirty.
In UK, almost all the buses were clean, as normal working people significantly outnumber the homeless and they care about the cleanliness of the bus.
I’m sure because of this, maintenance is more frequent.

I just hope the new vinyl seats are more modern, otherwise it will feel like a stepback

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Parker Road » 15 Jan 2021 19:04

quixomniac wrote:
OrangeMike wrote:
electricron wrote:If DART’s bus passengers can not control their body fluids and keep the seats dry, there is no hope for the stigma of public transit ever going away.

I can afford to not ever ride on a pig sty.


Sometimes people spill water on the “luxurious” velour. Sometimes people spill coffee. It happens far more frequently on the trains anyway.


Some people also just like to see the world burn :twisted:
Some homeless people purposefully pee on seats.

Ironically, it is because Buses are underused that they are dirty.
In UK, almost all the buses were clean, as normal working people significantly outnumber the homeless and they care about the cleanliness of the bus.
I’m sure because of this, maintenance is more frequent.

I just hope the new vinyl seats are more modern, otherwise it will feel like a stepback


To echo OrangeMike again — my experience is limited but DART's buses are consistently cleaner than its trains. The "buses are dirty" talking point might have made sense in the past, idk, I hadn't rode until a few years ago. But I don't know how people are getting that idea if they use the service now.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby saxman » 26 Mar 2021 20:28

A draft of the new bus network has been posted and surveys available to take.

The main page: https://www.dartzoom.org Take the survey from here.

A pretty cool interactive map where you can see proposed new routes against old routes. You can also click to see how far you can reach within one hour. https://webmap.jwainternal.com/DARTDraftNewNetwork/index.html

Here's a breakdown of route by route: https://jarrettwalker.com/wp-content/uploads/Route-by-route-guide-to-Draft-New-Network.pdf

Anecdotally, my local bus would improve to every 40 minutes instead of every 60 minutes. It cuts out some backtracking, but is still pretty circuitous to my closest rail station. I also saw they rerouted it to hit a couple of denser parts as well, which makes sense.

A lot more GoLink zones have been added to mostly residential areas as well, while fixed routes were removed. Looks like DART will do a complete renumbering system as well.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Tivo_Kenevil » 27 Mar 2021 11:35

Thanks for posting! How exciting!

Remember when Dart said this: iT WiLl TaKe uS tEn yEArS To ChANge eR BuS RoUtes!

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby itsjrd1964 » 28 Apr 2021 03:13

DART’s New Bus Network Hints at the Future of Public Transit in North Texas

https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2 ... rth-texas/

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby DPatel304 » 28 Apr 2021 09:22

Sounds like a step in the right direction. Of course, I'm saying this as someone who rarely rides the bus, so perhaps people who rely on it might have a different opinion.

Either way, I'm glad there is at least some focus on improving the bus infrastructure.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby TNWE » 28 Apr 2021 14:06

DPatel304 wrote:Sounds like a step in the right direction. Of course, I'm saying this as someone who rarely rides the bus, so perhaps people who rely on it might have a different opinion.

Either way, I'm glad there is at least some focus on improving the bus infrastructure.


I've ridden the bus some crosstown through Garland/North Dallas/Carrolton, and my impression is that if you're just trying to get across town, you've got the same number of frequencies between those two points, but my concern is that if you're trying to get somewhere between Downtown Garland and Spring Valley, or Spring Valley and Addison that's not on the one "enhanced" route connecting those points, you're way way worse off. They're basically taking the same number of total buses and the same number of trips between transit centers/rail stations and reallocating more capacity to one route between the two in the name of being able to say they created "frequent" service.

Imagine someone who works/shops at the Kroger at Coit and Belt Line (or any of the other shops at that intersection) - right now there's half-hourly East/West service on 402/403, connecting Spring Valley, Addison, and Downtown Carrollton, with lots of connection opportunities at those points. In the new plan, that route completely disappears ("replaced" with a 20 min headway on Spring Valley and a renumbered North/South route on Coit every 40 mins). Service on Arapaho between 75 and Coit disappears completely as well, meaning no access to Richardson Library or City Hall. That's a major early voting location - does that mean we can drag Jarret Walker & Co through the mud for voter suppression?

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby DPatel304 » 28 Apr 2021 14:30

Yikes, that's highly unfortunate. It really sounds like more funding is needed so that current bus routes can be kept in tact and additional frequency can be added to a few select routes, but I doubt that'll happen anytime soon.

Perhaps the idea is to screw over people in the short term with the hopes that DART (as a whole) is more widely used in the long term?

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby TNWE » 28 Apr 2021 15:11

DPatel304 wrote:Yikes, that's highly unfortunate. It really sounds like more funding is needed so that current bus routes can be kept in tact and additional frequency can be added to a few select routes, but I doubt that'll happen anytime soon.

Perhaps the idea is to screw over people in the short term with the hopes that DART (as a whole) is more widely used in the long term?


That was the core of the issue - the entire study was predicated on no new buses and no new funding. I think there was an expectation that the survey results would be overwhelmingly in favor of frequency over coverage, but from my recollection of the survey report out, it was very mixed with lots of people preferring coverage (which isn't really surprising - with our extreme weather, most people would rather wait inside their home or workplace for a less frequent bus a short walk away, instead of having to walk half a mile or more to get a bus that comes every 30 mins instead of every hour). The consultants were not really interested in that approach (their bias was clear in the way survey questions were worded), hence the proposed plan that's frequency centric.

All the yellow highlighter scribbles in the empty spots for new GoLink zones seems like a poor replacement in my mind - you're throwing up a huge barrier by requiring people to pre-book or call ahead if they don't have a smartphone.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby northsouth » 28 Apr 2021 19:19

TNWE wrote: Service on Arapaho between 75 and Coit disappears completely as well, meaning no access to Richardson Library or City Hall. That's a major early voting location - does that mean we can drag Jarret Walker & Co through the mud for voter suppression?


There's actually a westward extension of the Naaman Forest route west from Arapaho Center to serve the civic center and library. But I agree that reduction of fixed service isn't great; thing is that with DFW being so sprawled out by 70 years of suburban expansion, if you have to cut routes somewhere it'll likely be in the suburbs. We just don't have the density needed to really drive transit ridership in a lot of areas.

Ideally, DART will be able secure some federal funding to add back more bus routes. For decades, the federal government has been willing to through tons of money at capital expansion projects, but no similar funding for the corresponding operations and maintenance budgets. People have been making noise about this, and now the current administration seems open to doing such grants.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby TNWE » 29 Apr 2021 09:54

northsouth wrote:
TNWE wrote: Service on Arapaho between 75 and Coit disappears completely as well, meaning no access to Richardson Library or City Hall. That's a major early voting location - does that mean we can drag Jarret Walker & Co through the mud for voter suppression?


There's actually a westward extension of the Naaman Forest route west from Arapaho Center to serve the civic center and library. But I agree that reduction of fixed service isn't great; thing is that with DFW being so sprawled out by 70 years of suburban expansion, if you have to cut routes somewhere it'll likely be in the suburbs. We just don't have the density needed to really drive transit ridership in a lot of areas.

That just continues to reinforce the mindset that as long as any two points are connected by any number of Bus/LRT connections, they're "accessible by transit". It's not like any bus route will be operating at the sort of frequencies required to make that trip feasible.

If DART/JW were smart, they would have realized that many core areas already have frequent transit service, owing to the hub and spoke nature of the bus network around town. The problem is that those numerous overlapping routes all arrive and depart West End transfer center at the same time, so you get 4 buses in 5 minutes, then nothing for 25-55 minutes. I really question the value of having fewer "lines" when it doesn't create a meaningful increase in actual core frequency. Does DART think its customers are incapable of reading a map or using google transit instructions (which will show you all bus routes that can get you where you need to go within the core areas, regardless of their termini)? Why not go to a "rolling hub" approach, particularly when the transit centers typically have climate-controlled waiting areas and the possibility of announcing what bay a given route is departing from, when the next bus will arrive, etc? Having to wait a while for the next bus stinks, but when the weather is poor, I always plan my route such that any extended layovers/waiting happens at a place with some sort of shelter or cover, even if that means a longer total trip time.

I'm really not convinced that the consultants saying "well our survey said 50.000000000001% of respondents preferred to walk further to a 'more frequent' bus route and that proves for all time that frequency is more important than coverage" have ever actually had to, like, go about their life using the bus for anything beyond the occasional PR stunt...


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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby potatocoins » 02 Jun 2021 12:00

Thanks for sharing! I barely caught the end of it, so I didn't really hear anything of value, but I'm glad to see there have been a number of updates regarding this bus system redesign lately.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby undefinedprocess » 03 Jun 2021 09:21

potatocoins wrote:Thanks for sharing! I barely caught the end of it, so I didn't really hear anything of value, but I'm glad to see there have been a number of updates regarding this bus system redesign lately.

Here's a link to the stream from their YT channel. The link should automatically start at 9:30, but in case it doesn't, just skip to there.
https://youtu.be/8biABGfQBPY?t=570

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby potatocoins » 03 Jun 2021 10:46

Oh right, I forgot that was probably a possibility. Thanks for sharing!

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby itsjrd1964 » 02 Sep 2021 15:41

DART to see 'complete redesign' of bus network, includes more routes and longer service hours

The DART board has approved the changes, which will start next January.

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local ... b04bac6f0b
https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news ... -plan.html

More at: http://www.dartzoom.org

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby itsjrd1964 » 17 Jan 2022 08:15

This is the last week of bus routes and route numbers DART has used up to now. Next Monday, the changes begin. Almost all the route numbers will change. Some routes will go away entirely, many others will remain but their routings will change up, while a few exceptions will not change routings at all. There will be 30 GoLink zones (areas of on-demand van/small-bus service) available, up from 17 before, in mainly areas where no or hardly any regular bus routes operate. If you compare the 2 service area maps (before and after the service changes), you can tell the difference. There are definitely fewer bus routes after the changes. DART is, of course, fluffing everything up, but that still doesn't change how some will feel when they realize they have no more service or how dramatically changed their usual route may be. Should be interesting how things turn out.

Link to service/route number changes:
https://www.dart.org/about/servicechang ... ry2022.asp

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Hannibal Lecter » 17 Jan 2022 12:36

They killed Matilda?

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby itsjrd1964 » 18 Jan 2022 04:21

Looks like they combined bits of the #24, #81, #82, and #84; the new #3 will go up Ross, Matilda, then a zig-zag of Greenville and Mockingbird to get to Mockingbird Station. If anything, the biggest 'killing' looks to be where the bus that went up Henderson, then McMillan, up to Mockingbird has been. So Matilda still 'lives', but those elsewhere in the M-streets needing a bus will be walking a ways.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Hannibal Lecter » 18 Jan 2022 13:25

For those that don't know, there's a reason why Matilda was bus route #1. Here's some history on Matilda.

https://flashbackdallas.com/2018/04/20/ ... tcar-line/

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby itsjrd1964 » 22 Jan 2022 08:59

Just ran across this after leaving work. A little pre-Monday sneak-peek: along with the routing and route numbering changes, the bus stop signage is changing as well. DART has added QR codes to the existing text choice and website listing for checking on upcoming bus arrival times. Most other bus stops have a temporary sleeve over the sign warning passengers of any upcoming changes at a particular stop. Since this is my first/only sighting so far, I don't know how DART is handling stops for multiple routes on the new signs.
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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Parker Road » 22 Mar 2022 08:24

DART's board meeting presentation for tonight features some very early ridership numbers from the first ~month of the new bus network.
https://www.dart.org/about/board/boarda ... 2mar22.pdf

Some takeaways:
• Ridership jumped by ~10k per day across the board, meaning an about 15% increase on weekdays and more drastically on weekends. Percentage wise this is a very high jump compared to other cities that did redesigns (Houston, Austin, Columbus); but overall ridership numbers are still low for a city Dallas' size and the post pandemic timing doesn't help matters. It's nice to see a consistent rider base every day of the week, indicating a more useful and resilient system.
• Unsurprisingly the highest ridership routes (UTD, Jefferson/Gaston, Westmoreland particularly) mirror the highest ridership routes on the old system. More surprisingly, the numbers themselves haven't changed much. The system seems to be benefiting those in moderately dense areas who’ve received a boost in service, but not dense enough to surpass the highest ridership routes. This is where the "meat" of the new ridership is occurring I suspect.
• Golink ridership has approximately doubled, which makes sense since the number of Golink zones was doubled. But as a whole ridership is still really low having only broken 1,500 riders on one day. I don't know how the old suburban fixed routes performed which Golink replaced, but with the new system people in these low density areas are hardly using transit at all.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby potatocoins » 22 Mar 2022 10:45

I'm speaking as someone who almost never rides the DART, but those numbers certainly sound positive!

Also great to hear that the dense areas seemed to receive the boost in service. Without knowing specifically which areas they are talking about, I'd imagine these areas may only get more dense in the near future with the way Dallas is growing.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Parker Road » 22 Mar 2022 11:36

Yeah, I think my interpretation comes off a little more negatively than I intended—for the first month of service this is a pretty encouraging result. It sounds like the network is doing what it's supposed to do, build a small but decent network of local routes that serve as a solid base for expansion.

I am assuming that these moderately dense areas boosting total ridership are both along the frequent "spine" routes into downtown (routes 1, 3, 13 in Oak Lawn, Greenville, South Dallas) and and in the denser suburban parts of North Dallas (routes 16, 17, 20 on Ferguson, in Vickery Meadow, on NW Hwy). It's a good sign that the low-ridership routes shown in DART's presentation are 200-series routes (with 40–60 minutes midday frequency). That means the more frequent buses are at least running where they should be :)

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Hannibal Lecter » 22 Mar 2022 14:18

potatocoins wrote:I'm speaking as someone who almost never rides the DART, but those numbers certainly sound positive!


I'm not sure I would call this positive...
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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby Parker Road » 22 Mar 2022 14:58

Hannibal Lecter wrote:I'm not sure I would call this positive...

That graphic is comparing to pre-pandemic ridership, of course there's going to be a decrease.

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Re: DART: Bus system

Postby itsjrd1964 » 16 Aug 2023 14:50

DART celebrates 40th anniversary

Hard to believe it has been 4 decades since area voters approved what became DART. Dallas was previously served by DTS (Dallas Transit System).

A couple of still pictures are shown during the interview, one is an aerial of early work being done at Mockingbird Station, the other is installation of track downtown for the light rail line in front of DART headquarters.

https://youtu.be/cGfdzpKH6lk