Dart light rail ridership

[Knight22]

With the opening of the Plano stations and their success. Does anyone have a recent estimate of current daily light rail ridership? All I can find on the internet is 41,000 but I know that figure has been around for a while.

[CTroyMathis]

Good question. We'll all have to look into it more for sure.

I heard the trains heading north are already at crush load by the time they even hit Richardson now. Hmmm, ...

[UrbanLandscape]

Yeah, it's a good thing. We never expected it to be this great!

[aceplace]

I took a Red Line train out of downtown last night going north and many people were standing. And this was at 7PM on a Tuesday Night!

BTW, has anyone noticed the increased level of activity downtown? The portion of Main between Akard and Ervay was very populated... it looked like a real downtown in a real city...

[psukhudallasmetropolis]

I have also noticed the increased activity downtown. I think it will only get better as time goes on.

Does anyone know about the details to put a street car on Main St connecting Deep Ellum to the West End?

[bloodandpopcorn]

Yeah, I took a train down to Cityplace with a couple of friends on Saturday, and we had to stand both ways. This was at about 3:45 going and 5:40 coming back. We all commented about how it felt as if we were in a "real" city with a "real" transportation system. I hope this helps DART's economic troubles a bit...

[paulsukhudallasmetropolis]

The future Deep Ellum station will create a late night rush hour.

The last weekend trains of the night in London are packed with people coming home from a night out of the town.

[UrbanLandscape]

Yeah, I've seen it!

I'm glad they make the trains colors, not numbers and/or letters, like NYC. I mean, I don't have a problem with the NYC system, but most people do, and they relate well to color.

Plus, the map is more interesting. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)">

[bloodandpopcorn]

NYC is colors, too, but they have too many lines to do all colors. When you start having to differenciate between the "turqoise" line and the "forest green" line, it's time to move to a more complicated system...

That's the reason they go numbers & colors, right? I've always assumed it was.

But yes, I definitly agree that colors only is easier to deal with.

Has anyone been to the Downtown Plano station? How is it? I haven't been up in that area since I last did a play with Plano Repretory theater... which must have been 3 years ago now, at least. How is the area coming along?

[Knight22]

Hopefully the increased traffic on DART will only lead to more higher density development around the rail lines. Hopefully that will lead to DART building more inner city lines in the future and so on and so on. Then we could really see Dallas shape into a true urban city.

LA's mass transit has failed because they waited too long. They started building subways and light rail in the early 90's long after the metro area had matured. In the early 90's LA probably had 10-12 million in the metro area and now they are at 16-18 million in the metro area. The city will continue to grow but it has pretty much matured as an area. We started DART in the mid-90's when Dallas' metro area was about 4.5 million. But the area is expected to have 10-17 million in 40 years and those starter lines will have been in operation for 50 yrs! Imagine the ridership! I garantee you that LA wish they would have started mass transit when they had 4 or 5 million back in the 50's or whenever.

[TamTagon]

Soon DART may need to increase departure capacity if the trains are already full. Traffic hassle is a strong driver of suburban commuters to the train, but if the ride into town is too unpleasant and crowded, many will get back on the road.

Also, remembering delays after the July fireworks show downtown, is DART reconsidering the schematics of the downtown tracks? I recall the short distance between stop lights limited the train length, and therefore limiting the number of passengers per departure. The major benefit of the train is the reliable schedule and a train could be subject to gridlock downtown.

Do train user profiles exist? Like how many ride the train because it replaced the bus? how many are new riders? what are the destinations? I'm sure these data are available to DART planners, but is there public access?

[bloodandpopcorn]

I definitly think that DART needs to, and likely will, start running more, if not exclusively, 3-car trains (at least on the red-line). With this many riders, they wouldn't be loosing money at all to do one more train at a time, and I don't think that they are maxed out on usage of the trains they have yet.

I also agree that suburban people might be less apt to ride of its as crowded as it is. So I always stand, even if there are a few scatter seats available. I don't mind standing, and almost prefer it on the train, and it allows for people who really want to sit to be able to do so.

About the Stations downtown... right now, they can only do 3 car trains because of the reason you stated. However, I think if they did some creative planning (including workign with the city to time street lights and trains), they could potentially run 4 or 5 car trains and load 3 at a time ( or 3, then two), or something like that. If nothing else, though, 3-car trains do need to be used more in order to make the system more appealing. However, even standing, I think most of the subburban people will find DART far superior to driving down central... particularly with construction as it is. You can almost nap while standing, and defintly still be able to read the paper or a book while you stand. And there's none of the stress of the traffic jams of rush hour 75...

[GarrettCarey]

I love it! I agree! and Yes!

You know what I think is funny? Okay, I'll tell ya.

In a couple of years we will be complaining about how DART is too overcrowded, not enough trains, fares too high, etc. Before long DART will be a bad word.

Obviously, i hope these things do not occur, but that is the nature of us humans......and Dallasites sometimes.

Does anyone agree or am I full of nonsense?

[bloodandpopcorn]

Haha, I don't doubt that. But maybe this will be the last fare increase for a while. I'm rahter upset by it, and I think it will turn some people of (putting in just a $1 bill or coin is much easier than putting in $1.25), but whatever must be done, I guess...

[UrbanLandscape]

I've been to every rail station on the Red from the Convention Center north, all the way to Parker. Also to the LBJ Station on Blue.

Here are some pictures from the other night! Convinient, my excursions with digital cameras are...

<img src="http://images.ofoto.com/photos286/1/78/29/96/89/0/89962978105_0_ALB.jpg" style="border:0;"/>
A column and its, what should I say, finial?

<img src="http://images.ofoto.com/photos286/1/78/29/7/10/0/10072978105_0_ALB.jpg" style="border:0;"/>
The view from the southbound, looking towards the park. That park has a lot of memories!

Aw nuts...most of the pictures had dust on the lens, and looked horrible...that's what I get for photographing DT Plano at 8.00PM!

Just consider that a taste, eh? I will be back there soon, maybe tomorrow...


Oh, very true. Of course, most of the people I know curse DART, even thought they've <em>never ridden on it</em>!

Hey, crowded trains in Dallas...that's a good thing. Keep thinking that...crowded=good, crowded=good...

[TamTagon]

Was the fare increased because so many people ride for free? I've heard conductors still don't check for tickets all the time. And what's up with those tickets anyway? It's folksy and talks me back to a simpler time when the west was untamed, but DART really should invest in more environment friendly, reusable tokens or swipe-cards and entry gates to diminish fair jumpers - like every other public transport system.

I haven't been able to find on the DART.org site any numbers on ridership and/or demographics. Does anyone know if I'm just not looking in the right place on the site or is that all a secret?

[UrbanLandscape]

Yeah, I actually had my ticket checked! It was good. I'm glad they actually do it at all...

Sorry about the lack of pictures. Anyone know a good place to host pictures? For free?

[bloodandpopcorn]

if tripod or freeservers still host webistes, I'm sure you could just sign up and use it as a picture hosting account...

[downtownbum]

about two months ago i saw a shady looking character get arrested for not having a ticket by two dart cops at mockingbird. so buy your little $2 ticket is the moral to this story....

[Typo Ink]

I'm not sure if the latest numbers have been posted in another thread (I'm new), but according to this recent article: http://www.dart.org/news.asp?ID=469 , ridership is now at over 55,000/day. Light rail has been such a success; I'm quite excited for its future..

[drycreek]

Just an idea, but something else that maybe DART should think of for the future in order to make more crowded trains a little more pleasurable ride, maybe they could come up with a system to line their trains from seating positions and standing positions (maybe in the hand rail) with power/data/internet/headphone outlets. Then they could make a contract with someone like Sony to create headphones with mp3, am/fm/xm, capabilities in a small package like they already have, then all would be need in a power supply. Say you step on the train your standing up in the middle in rush hour, you can throw on your headphones plug in and there you go am/fm whatever, DART could advertise this. I think its a good idea because as a car driven society our radios and cd players have become very important to us on a daily basis. Oh and for those lucky enough to get a seat they could plug their laptop into a high speed ithernet port, and get a jump start on the days work or just surf the net.

[psukhu]

In other big cities with large urban rail systems, you'll notice most people just bring walkmans on the rain. (mp3, cd, radio, etc)

Since we are entering the wireless age, expect to see more wireless offerings. 802.11b hotspots, bluetooth, etc.

[gc]

It appears as though DART ridership has increased over the past year. The average weekday ridership is approximatley 52,500. From 2001 to 2002, the total ridership numbers have increased 23.62%

That is good news.

[gc]

DART sees more people riding rails
But use didn't meet 2003 projections, and bus ridership dropped
08:43 PM CST on Thursday, January 22, 2004
By TONY HARTZEL / The Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/012304dnmetdartnums.204fc.html

An expanding rail network led more people to ride DART trains last year, but those gains were overshadowed by a large drop in the agency's bus ridership, recent figures show.

Across the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system, daily ridership in 2003 grew by less than 1,000 new transit users. Both light rail and commuter rail use grew, but bus and high-occupancy vehicle lane usage dropped from 2002 levels.

"That's a bit of a mixed bag," said Gary Thomas, DART president and executive director. "We have to look at the pieces to see what's happening."

Average weekday bus ridership dropped to 135,000 last fiscal year, down from almost 146,000 the year before. In contrast, light-rail ridership jumped from 45,000 a day to almost 57,000 a day, and ridership on diesel-locomotive powered commuter-rail service between Dallas and Fort Worth rose from 7,200 a day to 8,000 daily.

Similar trends are occurring nationwide, according to the American Public Transportation Association. In late 2003, 57 percent of 104 agencies that completed an association survey reported declines in peak and off-peak passengers. In addition, 44 percent of those agencies also said they cut services to try and make ends meet.

"It's tied directly to how well the economy is doing," said Donna Aggazio, a spokeswoman for the transportation association. "We hope that with signs we see, that the economy is going to pick up and ridership improve by the end of the year."

DART officials said it's too early to say what impact the ridership figures will have on future service changes.

Public transportation use rose 21 percent during the economic boom years of 1995-2001, but ridership has dropped about 3 percent in the two years since then, association figures show.

Similar commuting trends have surfaced not only on transit systems, but on the nation's highways.

Congestion levels on North Texas highways remained constant from 2000 to 2001, the most recent years studied by the Texas Transportation Institute. A link between the economy and transportation most likely led to the leveling off, researchers said last year.

Officials estimated that about 70 percent of DART's passengers use the service to get to and from work. Drops in ridership tend to mirror the area's unemployment rate, which has more than doubled from 2001 to 2003, Mr. Thomas said.

"As we see jobs start to come back, I'm confident we'll see ridership increase," he said.

The economic slowdown has hit the transit industry hard, leading many including DART to slash budgets and cut services. The transit agency, which relies heavily on sales taxes for its funding, was forced to cut its budget from $324 million to $300 million a year ago after sales tax figures showed further drops in revenue.

To make up that shortfall, DART cut some jobs and eliminated 16 bus routes last fall. Planners predicted that the loss of those routes, which attracted the fewest passengers, would cost the agency about 3,000 riders a day. But it may be too early to determine the exact effect of the service cuts, which was put in place in October, DART spokesman Morgan Lyons said.

DART's growth in rail ridership, while noteworthy, also has not lived up to predictions. Although almost 57,000 people a day use light-rail trains, planners thought that about 66,000 people a day would ride the DART red and blue lines by the end of 2003.

Several stations, including those in downtown Dallas, downtown Garland and Richardson's Telecom Corridor, have failed to meet expectations.

In addition, much of DART's growth in rail ridership can be attributed in large part to the opening of seven new light-rail stations in summer 2002 and the opening of three more light-rail stations in Plano in late 2002.

"We're still seeing good ridership, but it's not where we thought we'd see it," Mr. Thomas said.

While DART bus ridership has dropped, public transportation has become an indispensable part of many commutes.

"It's very important," said Pleasant Grove hair stylist Mary Cruz, who takes the bus to downtown several times a week. Her 15-year-old son takes transit to school daily.

Ms. Cruz and other riders said Thursday, the transit agency could attract or keep more passengers by running its buses on time or adding more trains.

"They need to be more punctual," Ms. Cruz said.

Crowded morning trains are becoming an issue for El Centro Community College student Kandace Ritcherson.

"It's really crowded," Ms. Ritcherson said. "They need more trains."

E-mail thartzel@dallasnews.com

[CTroyMathis]

DART rail could've have shattered projections if they didn't only have 95 cars. Still, it's quite solid. I thought about this last year to some length. That's a lot of cars, yes, but - DART rail has some serious miles of coverage w/a few dozen stations.

Thats only a little over 2 rail cars for every mile in service. And, not all cars are ever in service on a given day. The supposed 155 cars planned for the next phase when there should be a total of 93 miles of rail service is also 'off-track' (no pun) by an even larger margin. I'm so for expansion, but, I miss Snoble - not that he's the end-all brilliant transit planning/mgmt genious. However, I think his leadership in LA now has proven that while expanding along a pre-set course - adapt to the need for other things... Like more cars in this case, etc.

Here's to looking forward to the next US economic cycle upswing. DART could seriously use some of that subsidized support to feel re-invigorated. And, re-open a lot of slashed bus routes - it's too important to the whole.

[psukhu]

We know that the Southeast line will open in stages. That will give light rail more destinations in time for the peak of the next economic cycle.

What about the Northwest line? Will we see a couple of new stations per year until 2010?

The connections to both airports should have a good impact on ridership.

[CTroyMathis]

I think the yellow line was/is considered to add 27K per year w/all stations done, but, not including the Irving branch.

I'd guess DART would also increment the openings of rail segments as stations become ready all the way to Frankford, w/priority on the Carrollton terminus - and, deep into Irving secondary. I'd agree once the airport is finally tapped, there will be a huge potential ridership increase.

[freewaytincan]

Yeah, once they get about halfway on the Yellow Line, or perhaps near completion, I say that it could grow at a near exponential rate until after the airport is reached. There will also be a very noticeable surge, like the one in the TRE, when Love Field is connected.

Eventually, I would like to see the future FW light rail have an "overlap zone" with DART, allowing for crossovers and stopping at the same station, and eventually perhaps three-way, to Denton.