DART Has Arrived

Look a-yonder comin'... -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
DART is the Dallas Area Rapid Transit – it came into existence in 1983 as a regional replacement to the more local Dallas Transit System. Featuring 45 miles of track (not counting another 45 miles under construction) and 115 Kinki Sharyo rail cars, DART is the nation’s largest and most rapidly expanding light rail project.

DART had a dodgy beginning; many Texans didn’t think that light rail would work for a Texas maverick state of mind. Coppell and Flower Mound even voted themselves out of the project early on. With the advent of the blue/red lines in the mid-1990’s and the green line in 2009, the rail system has proved the naysayers wrong – daily ridership is currently at 228,300 and going up as we speak.

I’ve already shared my feelings of civic appreciation and amazement in one of my earlier blogs (“Dallas Under the Wrecking Ball”). In that blog, I lamented the destruction of Dallas’s historical landmarks but held DART as a saving grace for an otherwise commercially oriented city. Also, I marveled at the fact that a Bush/Perry-loving red state could have such an exemplary mass transit project. Mass transit after all, is vaguely socialistic in its goals. It’s the ultimate democratization of transportation. The irony, the irony.

How do I love light rail? Let me count the ways….

ECOLOGY
Clearly, the fewer cars on the road, the less the air pollution. Even beyond that, you can reduce the need for highways, parking lots and parking garages. Also fewer unsightly auto-related enterprises – service stations and oil change shops. In Dallas, that should be no great loss to our suburb-oriented economy but a great boon to the visual appeal of the city proper.

ECONOMY
Transit oriented development is a fact in established Northern cities like NYC and Chicago. Dallas has had major transit development at Mockingbird Station, City Place and Eisemann Center in Richardson. To borrow from Kevin Costner: if you build it they will come. People who dread parking downtown or fear having their cars towed at the State Fair will now hop on a train.

TOURISM
I’ve traveled to Paris, France and Sydney, Australia. In both cities, I must confess that I didn’t do my homework and figure out a visitor itinerary. Each city’s subway map gave me an excellent start in spite of that. The city’s promoters make sure to put a stop at anything remotely interesting. Museums, parks, historical monuments, trendy bar areas and shopping districts will all get a stop as well as informative blurbs in the maps about what all to see at each station. People can get off at a station, explore the local ‘hood, and hop back on.

STRUCTURE
A transit system gives structure, even meaning to a city suffering from urban sprawl. A “what are we about” and “where are we going” discussion is the very literal precursor to any new track being laid. What’s that you say? There’s no DART train going to Lancaster Avenue or La Prada in Mesquite? Well, it could be that those areas lack the potential ridership or places of interest. Also, could be the member cities cheaped out on the DART tax. Planning, discussion and more discussion – all are required to put rail into place.

CONCLUSION
What to make of all this? It’s very nearly socialist in nature. Every committed DART rail user is flipping a finger at Ford, Audi or Shell Oil. Any opportunities lost to the auto or oil industry are gains to transit-oriented construction, general retail, the arts and tourism to name but a few. If you haven’t already, set aside one sunny afternoon to check out the exhibits at Fair Park in Dallas – and by all means take the Green Line to get there.


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