New DART Stations

[mdunlap1]

Has anyone ridden the DART Rail to the new stations yet? How are they? How is the ride? Does it take long to get from Park Lane out the furthest northern stop? Does it appear that it will be convenient enough for Richardson/Addison/Plano residents to use instead of driving to/from work downtown? Please give up some details for an out-of-town Dallasite.

8o

[smontgomery]

I rode the from Arapaho Center today ( Galatyn Park is not a park and ride, nowhere to park) to West End, and I must say that I was impressed! The parking lot at Arapaho was at least 85% full. The trains were on schedule, and what surprised me most was the amount riders on its first day of operation. Now that it has stretched outside of Dallas city limits, it has grown to a much wider audience. However, because of the Texas storms and unpredictable weather, I think that they should look into building more covered structures (parking lots, train platform). This will encourage even more people to get out of their cars. Go DART!!

[smontgomery]

Oops, I didn't answer all of your questions.
Has anyone ridden the DART Rail to the new stations yet? (see above posting)
How are they?
The stations are pretty cool. When I lived in DC, one thing that I didn't like was the whole utilitarian, monochromatic look. Each station here has a different types of subtle touches to them.
How is the ride?
Does it take long to get from Park Lane out the furthest northern stop?
It takes maybe about 10-15 minutes to get to Park Lane from Arapaho (the stations are about 2-4 minutes apart), but it took only 30 or so minutes to get to downtown.

Does it appear that it will be convenient enough for Richardson/Addison/Plano residents to use instead of driving to/from work downtown?
Since I live in West Plano (off the tollway), right now going to Arapaho Station is kind of a pain (12 miles). It'll be better when the line gets out to Parker Rd. But if you live in Richardson, it's a godsend. And for Addison residents, it's not that bad at all in terms of distance. Hope that helps. Peace.

[mdunlap1]

And anyone else, please keep us posted on the traffic flow at the new rail stations. There was an article recently in the Dallas Business Journal that called the DART rail a complete bust because slightly fewer people were using DART to commute to work in 2001 than in 1991. But these stations are the first to open in an area where many people nearby should actually use them regularly to commute to downtown.

:smokin:

[ibryant]

I rode the rail from the spring valley station, up to galatyn and then to downtown on saturday during DART's "super saturday" events. Everything worked flawlessly and the trains were completely packed!! I'm not only talking no standing room, I'm talking about DART police having to tell people to wait for the next train because it was so packed!! It was wonderful to see.

There were a whole lot of people that rode the rail up to galatyn park for the festivities, and from listening to people talk, it sounded like there were a lot of first time riders. Another great sign!!

I'm sure the ridership numbers are down a little this week with all of the rain, but from what I saw on saturday, it looks like a great success so far!

[Columbus Civil]

My office is right next to the Park Lane Station, and a few of our employees that live in Richardson have been taking the train to work. From what they tell me, the trains are packed during rush hour, and the parking lot at the Arapaho park and ride overflows on the weekdays. I've ridden the train a few times from downtown to work since the new stations have opened, and I've noticed a marked increase in ridership.

Very encouraging!

[bloodandpopcorn]

I rode the rail yesturday from mockingird to Walnut Hill Station, and at about 4 o'clock it was standing room only. I was ecstatic.

[metrosteve]

I have ridden the Red LIne 5 times in the last week or so--morning, early afternoon and evening rush hour. The trains have always been well-occupied and many times full to standing-room only in the evening rush. The station I park at and ride from is Arapahoe--once I waited 20 minutes to find a parking space as I wasn't sure whether all the "illegally-parked" cars might not get towed. Anyway people on board, some even with bicycles or skates on one of the trips are all very positive about it--meant some people from Chicago who were visiting Dallas and they said they were very impressed.
Also, on one trip to Galaltyn Park Station I got off and walked over to the trail connection that leads into a rather large and beauitful city park with nice paved trails, a meandering creek, and towering trees--seemed like I was miles away from the city all of a sudden. Cool!

[bloodandpopcorn]

Wow! Where is that place? Just past the hotel? I'll have to check that out. Anyone know why Dart is waiting so long to start construction on the next route? It's something like the end of next year or early 2004, isn't it? Maybe not that far, but I remember htinking it seemed like they were taking a long break... which they do deserve, I just wish they would hurry up at get it all done! I really do think that once the Purple and Yellow lines are done (and what ever the line is that branches off to Los Collinas/DFW), Downtown and all of Dallas will begin to see it's biggest improvement.

[GarrettCarey]

DART light rail ridership for the first quarter of 2002 was approximately 38,400 a day. Could be better but not too shabby for our car centric metroplis...compliments of www.apta.com