Plano Councilman Puts DART on Notice
Crime, cost, and delays.
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) provides buses and trains across the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.
Anyone who has attempted to ride it in recent years, or ever, has come across homeless, random acts of violence, drugs, and filth on the trains.
Crime on the DART is up 18% for the 2024 fiscal year.
54% of crime incidents happen either on the platform waiting for the train or on the train itself.
Since 1983, cities part of DART’s network have provided a 1% tax on every dollar spent, and city leaders like Plano city councilman Shelby Williams have gotten fed up.
In a meeting earlier this month with DART and city leaders, Plano City Councilman Shelby Williams tells a story where he purposely took the DART to a planned dart meeting and he was more than an hour late because of delays.
Cities have given DART an ultimatum:
In a meeting led by Plano representative Shelby Williams on Friday, DART board members heard they would have just five weeks to come to an agreement with the six member cities that previously passed resolutions in favor of lowering their sales tax contributions to DART.
DART has until November 11 to sign onto an interlocal agreement plan creating a general mobility program that will rebate cities up to 25% of their tax contributions, which they can then independently invest in eligible mobility projects. Williams also said member cities want to see the transit agency transition to a closed system with turnstiles to address crime and homelessness, reduce debt issuances, encourage more membership through a la carte options and move away from prioritizing fixed routes.
DART is currently poorly serving the people it was most meant to serve. This biggest thing we want in 2024 is for it (DART) to make sense…fewer and fewer people care to ride the DART system. - Plano City Councilman Shelby Williams
Councilman Williams also notes that while sales tax collections for DART have increased, ridership has heavily decreased.
DART has until November 11th to agree to rebate cities.
Smells like an alley next to a bar
I like the convenience and safety of having my own vehicle. Let DART make itself useful to people without taxpayer funds. Let those who would use DART as their driving option pay for it or they can eat cake.