wbap

[pariah]

has anybody been following the dialogue concerning the 3 major transit systems and the proposed merger thereof on WBAP, you can check it out at WBAP.com. interesting stuff. T, DART, and the new Denton County Authority.

[TamTagon]

it sure takes a long time to get to and from garland to fort worth.

[GarrettCarey]

pariah, I missed the discussion. What was talked about? Did they mention the likelihood of those agencies merging? What potential problems were identified?

[CTroyMathis]

Here are the transcripts from the radio discussion:

Part One:

The "Training" of North Texas Pt. 1

ANCHOR: Try to convince a Texan to give up his car and use mass transportation? Good luck! But that's exactly what three area transit authorities are trying to do. It's an uphill drive, but, in the first episode of a 5-part series, WBAP's Steve Cumming reports there is progress in "The Training of North Texas."

STEVE CUMMING: Numbers are good all year, but DART light rail and the Trinity Railway Express get plenty of passengers on the day after thanksgiving and during the week between Christmas and New Year's Day... many of them like Greg and Laurie Cheney of North Richland Hills riding the DART blue line out of Garland.

GREG CHENEY: This is the first time we've ever ridden it. we have been wanting to ride it. We came out of Fort Worth and took the Trinity Rail[way] Express down to Union Station. it's just something we've wanted to do for a while.

LAURIE CHENEY: We're just exploring.

CUMMING: And while there were plenty of naysayers to go around ten years ago when the getting around by rail was still just conversation, you won't find any of them now.

RIDER #1: I think it was about 20 years overdue. I was always in favor of it.

RIDER #2: It's our second time riding the train. We liked it alot...went downtown...really quick.

RIDER #3: I think it's excellent. It's time-saving. It's very convenient. I love it.

(MUSIC: "Love Train" by the Ojays)

CUMMING: While everything was love and relaxation Friday, it's now back to the business of commuting. Northward expansion for DART light rail continues...the red line to Richardson this past July, and two weeks ago the blue line began service to downtown Garland. And DART board chairman Robert Pope has another celebration coming up.

ROBERT POPE: We go to plano! we complete, really, the build-out of light rail by opening in plano on December ninth. Alot of festivities are planned for the weekend before. That will complete about 43 miles of light rail extension since 1995.

TRINITY RAILWAY EXPRESS CONDUCTOR ON P-A: Good afternoon passengers. Thank you for riding the Trinity Railway Express. This train is the 2934 train and we're headed eastbound to the Dallas Union Station.

CUMMING: DART light rail connects with the jointly-operated TRE. DART and the "T" work the line that runs from Fort Worth's T and P station to Dallas' Union Station. But if you're in a hurry, the car still rules. I rode the rail from Garland to downtown Fort Worth and back in four hours and 45 minutes, including the half hour wait to catch the TRE back to Dallas. One factor that really slows things down is the long time it takes for the DART trains to wend their way through downtown Dallas...stopping for traffic lights and a station every couple of blocks. The TRE takes 60 to 70 minutes to get from Fort Worth to Dallas...or vice versa.

TRINITY RIVER EXPRESS ENGINEER ON P.A.: Attention passengers. we're now 'round the Centreport-DFW Airport...

CUMMING: And if you want to get to DFW airport by rail, don't be in a hurry. the Centerport-DFW stop is at Highway 360 and Rock Island in the easternmost dogleg of Fort Worth. From there, you take a shuttle to the airport. you can save lots of change on parking, but you'd better have plenty of time on your hands if you're going to catch that flight. But this is a work in progress. And over the next several days, we'll let you know where this is all going. Steve Cumming, WBAP 24-hour news.

TRINITY RAILWAY EXPRESS CONDUCTOR ON P.A.: Our next stop will be Richland Hills. Richland Hills station is our next stop.

[CTroyMathis]

Part Two:

The "Training" of North Texas Pt. 2

ANCHOR: While Dallas Area Rapid Transit is well on its way to producing a grown-up-sized light rail system, Fort Worth is just relatively early in its efforts to develop light rail. In yesterday's episode of "The 'Training' of North Texas," WBAP's Steve Cumming reported the commuter rail Trinity Railway Express is just the start of Cowtown's committment to local rail service.

STEVE CUMMING: The Trinity Railway Express, which connects Fort Worth and Dallas, is an operation quite different from most other commuter rail operations around the country.

"T" PRESIDENT & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JOHN BARTOWCEWICZ: From the very beginning, the Trinity Railway express was an equal partnership between the two cities. It's always been an equal partnership between the "T" and DART in terms of governance. In terms of cost, of course, the DART side pays more because they get more service right now. It's also been a unique partnership in the sense that we, from the very beginning, committed ourselves to providing what you would call a seamless system. So when you buy a monthly pass to commute from Fort Worth to Dallas, you get access to the entire "T" system, the Trinity Railway Express, all of the free connection service that we have at the airport provided by DFW and others, and the entire DART system.

CUMMING: That's the "T's" outgoing president and executive director, John Bartowcewicz. After 25 years, he leaves at the end of this month to assume a post with McDonald transit, the company that manages the "T." But he's overseen the shape and form Fort Worth light rail is going to take.

BARTOWCEWICZ: The DART system is built pretty much on exclusive right of way. It's much higher speed. It is aimed at bringing suburban dwellers into the city for work. The initial parts of the Fort Worth system which we're working on now it's more or less a street car system. And what it intends to do is link the central business district with the cultural opportunities on the west side...the near west side of town... eventually expanding to other parts of the residential community. But more importantly, linking the hospital district and the beginning of the southeast sector of town to the downtown. The locally preferred alternative, which was arrived at after a year-long comprehensive process has the initial line going through the hospital district and then out Rosedale as far east as Texas Wesleyan University as the initial mode, but eventually extending out to Loop 820 and even with a little leg up into the redeveloping Hanley Village area.

CUMMING: Some comparisons with the DART trains.

BARTOWCEWICZ: Cars that are smaller than the DART cars, powered by overhead electricity, operating either as single cars or in double car trains.... a car maybe being 40 to 50 feet long, very modern-looking car, probably a low-floor car where people don't have to get up steps to get on a car, for example. Car capacity is going to be probably about a hundred for each car.

CUMMING: There's the "T," there's DART, and add to that a third player; the newly-formed Denton County Transportation Authority. We'll hear about their plans for commuter rail tomorrow. Steve Cumming, WBAP 24 hour news.

[CTroyMathis]

Part Three:

The "Training" of North Texas Pt. 3

ANCHOR: When you talk about public rail transportation in North Texas, most people aren't aware that there are more than two agencies involved. In episode three of his five-part series, "The 'Training' of North Texas," WBAP's Steve Cumming reports on what's happening on the north end of the metroplex.

STEVE CUMMING: We all know about the "T" and DART, but now there's a third player, thanks to a bill passed by the Texas state legislature early in 2001 and then signed in June of that year by Governor Perry.

DCTA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN CHARLES EMERY: Essentially what it provides for is the opportunity for all counties in the state of Texas that are contiguous to counties with a million population or more to form their own transportation authority.

CUMMING: And that opened the gate for the creation of the Denton County Transportation Authority late last year. With 73 percent of Denton County voters approving of the move, the D-C-T-A was authorized to get going and fulfill the reason for its creation. Charles Emory is the chairman of its executive committee, and he says job one is working with DART and the "T" to form a triangle of service. But which way to do it? There's light rail... like DART's service. Or there's commuter rail...diesel multiple units, or D-M-Us... like the Trinity Railway Express.

EMERY: We looked at light rail. We looked at DMUs. Light rail is very expensive to construct. It's 35 to 40 million dollars a mile. We think we can do the DMUs for as little as 12 million dollars a mile.

CUMMING: Emery says that in a plan worked up last June, one leg of the two-pronged system out of Denton is already well taken care of. That one, an existing railroad route connecting Dallas and Denton comes in two parts that follow I-35-E.

EMERY: The first segment is a rail-based DMU system which will go from the North Carrollton-Frankford station to [state highway] 2181 or Swisher Road and Corinth. That leg of rail and right of way is, right now, owned by DART. The second segment goes from that point into Denton. And that second segment is owned by the City of Denton.

CUMMING: The funding is already there to deal with that route, but less defined is the leg to Fort Worth that would follow I-35-W.

EMERY: There are two rails systems, one on each side of I-35-W. We're looking at the rail system that is closer to [US highway] 377 at this juncture to tie from Denton into a "T" system which, of course, is not quite identified as far as the Fort Worth "T" is concerned.

CUMMING: Of course, rail is just a part of D-C-T-A's plans, which also include buses, park and ride facilities and so on in its connections with DART and the "T."

EMERY: And we can plug in as a county. We don't have to go city by city. And I think that is a tremendous asset to the regionalization move.

CUMMING: Did you hear those last words? The regionalization move? Leaders in all three entities...DART, the "T", and D-T-C-A say it has to happen. Tomorrow, we'll explain what it is and why it needs to take place. Steve Cumming, WBAP 24-hour news.

[CTroyMathis]

Part Four:

The "Training" of North Texas Pt. 4

ANCHOR: We've seen explosive growth in the DART light rail system over the past year, with three more stations opening in Plano this coming Monday. With DART, the "T" and the Denton County Transportation Authority all drawing up plans to link their areas with each other, who's calling the shots? Here's WBAP's Steve Cumming with part four of "The 'Training' of North Texas."

[SOUND: Light rail train at crossing]

CUMMING: Over the last the three episodes, we've heard about the grand designs for commuter rail in Dallas, Tarrant and Denton counties....each county with its own transportation agency. And that DART board chairman Robert Pope characterizes his agency's and the "T's" partnership in managing the Trinity Railway Express.

DART BOARD CHAIRMAN ROBERT POPE: Not without some problems. Anytime you get two agencies with equal ownership there can be some differences of opinion, but we've been able to work those out.

CUMMING: But the heads of all three agencies realize a new management structure is needed if they are to work well together serving North Texas. One of the greatest proponents of a unified transportation authority that would handle mass transit for all of the Metroplex... especially as it grows into adjacent counties... is Walt Humann of Hunt Oil. He's been involved in North Texas mass transportation planning for decades. He says such an concept could take shape in two steps.

WALT HUMANN: Just consider an organization chart where you have the overall transit authority, and it would have the planning, the funding, and the overall management components of the authority. And under it would be three subsidiary boxes; DART, the "T", [and] Denton. And so this would be an interim transportation alternative. But the long-term alternative would be to have them merge so you would have a single seamless organization.

CUMMING: And Humann says the sooner the better.

HUMANN: The reason I'm so intent on doing this sooner rather than later is that all these parties should be sitting around a common planning table. And it should not be a rivalry situation; 'Now let's see if we run our line to this city they'll join our system and not the other system.' Already I've heard from one source their city is debating whether they should join DART or the "T" or the Denton [County Transportation Authority]. That's not what we want. I'm all in favor of competition in the private sector, but in the public sector you have limited taxpayer resources. We all should unite and we should have a central planning so that you lay out your transportation corridors that make the most sense from density and for anticipated growth in the future.

CUMMING: And, he says, by working together under a single organizations, DART, the "T" and the DCTA could be sure that their areas will use equipment compatible with everyone else's. We still haven't talked about long-term development plans for DART light rail. We'll have that tomorrow. Steve Cumming, WBAP 24-hour news.

[CTroyMathis]

Part Five:

The "Training" of North Texas Pt. 5

ANCHOR: As we've heard over the last 4 days, efforts to build commuter rail and light rail networks in the Metroplex are in varying stages of development. No one has a bigger jump on it than DART, and WBAP's Steve Cumming looks at the plans now on the drawing board.

CUMMING: The "T" is working on a streetcar-style light rail system for Fort Worth. The Denton County Transportation Authority is planning diesel commuter rail links along I-35-E and W with Dallas and Fort Worth. Meanwhile, DART continues to expand their existing system to the north, south and around the center of the city. There's already the blue and red lines. DART board chairman Robert Pope talks about a third line:

DART BOARD CHAIRMAN ROBERT POPE: We're already building the first piece of it with the extention from downtown Dallas out to Victory...the American Airlines Center. That extension should open late next year.

CUMMING: And it could, conceivably go from there northwest to Love Field.

POPE: Of course, the most expensive option is to build a tunnel that would serve the Love Field terminal directly on the line. There's some operations issues with that. There's certainly some cost issues. It's the most expensive option we have.

CUMMING: A couple other options are also being discussed with the Dallas city council. In the other direction, he has hopes it would also reach south to the Dallas Convention Center. Both of those destinations would fit right into the route where the line will ultimately go.

POPE: We will begin construction in 2005 or 2006 to the southeast corridor, from downtown out to the Fair Park area and then south to Pleasant Grove. That's what we call out Southeast 1 and Southeast 2...that'll be built in two segments. We'll also start construction of the northwest corridor from the American Airlines Center on out to Carrollton and Farmers Branch, where the line splits off near Northwest Highway and goes to Irving and eventually DFW [Airport].

CUMMING: Pope adds that sales tax issues in the communities that would be served could slow down those completion dates a couple years. The northern end of the blue line should reach Rowlett by 2008. The northern terminus of the red line is now in Plano, but how far can that go?

POPE: We see the potential for extending rail, probably commuter rail, further north than Plano. We own the rail line from Plano to Sherman, so we've got the rights to use that line. It's really dependant on those communities to the north wanting to be part of the regional transit system.

CUMMING: Some tax laws are going to have to change in outlying areas to make possible adding on rural communities. A single regional transit agency could make those changes come alot easier. The communities that are now being served are happy with the result. Over the next couple years, we'll see if the desire is there to take the "training excercise" that started in Dallas and Tarrant counties and turn it into the "training" of North Texas.

POPE: We will always have to build highways, but we have got to do something to address our congestion and our air quality issues. And we believe that transit and light rail are part of the tools, are just part of what we need to address the situation.

CUMMING: Steve Cumming, WBAP 24-hour news.

[gc]

This is such a huge topic. I hope the transit agencies can overcome the challenges of technology, cost, timeframes, egos, and rivalries. It is so important that this an integrated regional system, not 3 or 4 different quasi-connected systems. I know these challenges are bigger than I can imagine, but if they are not truly integrated.....I'm afraid that leaders will be kicking themselves in the butt sometime in the future. Also, if it is not seamless and easily accessible, potential tranist riders may not jump on board and use it. DART, the "T", and the DCTA need to agree on how to accomplish these goals and MOVE FORWARD.

[bloodandpopcorn]

DART and the T have set a great example for this, in my opinion, and it's just a matter if DCTA partners up with both of them just as well. If they do as it proposes and do completely integrate their commuter rail with the Carrolton branch of Light Rail, I tihnk it has a great possibility of sucess. making the commuter rail go south and acutally sharing a couple of DART stations is a great idea that will provide easy means of switiching between the two. Though I defintly agree it would be better to have one system that stretches the whole way, this is not at all a bad way to start out.

[freewaytincan]

Yes, they have done a fine job. In fact, I have heard that the DFW area transit is setting a national standard...