Ticket Booklets / Multiple day passes

[Dbadger]

One of the things that concerns me quite a bit about Dart rail, is the lack of any system that helps people that want to make dart part of their week but are not ready to use it every day.

I am specifically talking about ticket Booklets.

I would like to use dart at least twice a week, but am quite discouraged because I cannot guarantee to buy my ticket in time, specially that the ticket m/c do not accept credit cards or half the circulating dollar bills.
I don't know why not have a ticket booklet (say 10 day passes) that you can buy and then use at your own pace (not 10 days in a row). It saves time in the morning and you can utilize the already existing stamp/date machines.
I travel a lot with work and out of 11 cities I use the rail in, Dallas is the only one that does not have a similar system.
Charlotte NC has it, and their CATS system is only a couple of months old.
This booklet will help ridership and give people a little bit of an edge to maybe ride more.
Anybody else has this problem?
I am sorry if there is a lready a similar thread.

[RobertB]

One of the things that concerns me quite a bit about Dart rail, is the lack of any system that helps people that want to make dart part of their week but are not ready to use it every day.

I am specifically talking about ticket Booklets.

I would like to use dart at least twice a week, but am quite discouraged because I cannot guarantee to buy my ticket in time, specially that the ticket m/c do not accept credit cards or half the circulating dollar bills.
I don't know why not have a ticket booklet (say 10 day passes) that you can buy and then use at your own pace (not 10 days in a row). It saves time in the morning and you can utilize the already existing stamp/date machines.
I travel a lot with work and out of 11 cities I use the rail in, Dallas is the only one that does not have a similar system.
Charlotte NC has it, and their CATS system is only a couple of months old.
This booklet will help ridership and give people a little bit of an edge to maybe ride more.
Anybody else has this problem?
I am sorry if there is a lready a similar thread.
I totally agree. I used to always carry a ten-ride booklet with me, just in case. But DART discontinued it (about the time they went to mag-stripe day passes) and hasn't brought it back. The weekly pass is a weak (groan) substitute, especially since you can't buy it anywhere useful. I suspect it only gets purchased by DART employees when someone comes in from out of town.

[Dbadger]

The weekly pass also is not much of a discount. At $15, if you ride 5 days you'ld break even with the $3 daypass. They said the reason they discontinued it was because people were manually erasing the date stamp and restamping it? Blah, Blah. They are just lazy. I talked to Tina Vaughn and Dennis Mochon both at Dart, and they tell me there is no interest in that booklet?

[RobertB]

The weekly pass also is not much of a discount. At $15, if you ride 5 days you'ld break even with the $3 daypass. They said the reason they discontinued it was because people were manually erasing the date stamp and restamping it? Blah, Blah. They are just lazy. I talked to Tina Vaughn and Dennis Mochon both at Dart, and they tell me there is no interest in that booklet?
How can I tell DART I'm interested in something they haven't had in years?

I'd be happy enough, though, if they would just use a Coke machine before selecting the next automated ticket vending machine. How hard can it be to take the money first?

[Dbadger]

How can I tell DART I'm interested in something they haven't had in years?

I'd be happy enough, though, if they would just use a Coke machine before selecting the next automated ticket vending machine. How hard can it be to take the money first?


I got a call from Dennis Mochon yesterday.
He thought the ticket booklet was a 'good idea', he will look into it granted that there is interest from the public.
If anybody wants to give him a ring, just call Darts main info number and ask for him in marketing.
Maybe if we focus on one person, they will stop playing games.

[DalLove444]

Whenever i visit, i gotta buy day passes for each of the 3 or 4 days that im staying there, as a weeklky pass isnt practical. Maybe be good to bring it back.

[Anthony]

Well, I happened to notice my last time passing by Baylor Station I noticed that you can buy a 31 day pass for $65. Awesome, I'll have to try that when I get a chance. Well, tonight was that chance. Stopped at Deep Ellum Station and pulled out my credit card. Out prints a receipt "Unablle to issue"

Oh, this machine must be out of tickets. I try the other machine at the station and it's telling me to pay cash. I walk over to 7-Eleven and pull out $80. I walk to Baylor station. I pick my 31 day pass, insert cash. Same thing. Why do they have this on there if you can't buy it?

[darkblood]

I also would like to see something like the ticket booklets, where I don't have to scrounge for exact change any time I'm taking DART.

I hope DART eventually goes to a system like London, where you can buy day passes or get an "Oyster" card for continuous use with a maximum amount charged per day.

[electricron]

Here's the DART's website about the tickets you can buy at the machines:

http://www.dart.org/fares/tvminformation.asp

Did you know there were three different machines in use?

DART Fares:
DART Day Passes valid for unlimited rides on the date of purchase only through 3 a.m. the following day.
Local $4.00
System $5.00
Regional $7.50
Reduced* $2.00

DART Single-ride options are good for 90 minutes of train travel or a single bus trip (no transfers). Rail Only Tickets are not valid on buses.
Local $1.75
System $2.50
Regional $3.75
Reduced* $.85

DART Monthly Passes
Local $65 (~= 16 Day Passes ($64))
System $75 (= 15 Day Passes)
Regional $105 (= 14 Day Passes)
Reduced* $32 (= 16 Day Passes)

DART's 7 Day Pass must be purchased for 7 consecutive days and are available only at the DART Store at Akard Station and at Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs) at Deep Ellum, Baylor University Medical Center, Fair Park and MLK, Jr. stations.
Local $20 (= 5 Day Passes)
System $25 (= 5 Day Passes)
Regional $37.50 (= 5 Day Passes)

Basically, the weekly pass gives you the two weekend days free, the monthly pass gives you one week of workdays and all weekend days free. No doubt the monthly pass saves the customers the most money. There's a significant problem issuing pass booklets you all forgot to mention. They would have to make booklets for all the different types of fares. Which fare would you do first; Local, System, Regional, or Reduced? How many tickets would you have in each booklet? Would you make the fares cheaper than the weekly/monthly fares? The fares are already complicated enough, why make them more so......

Local =
Red, Blue and Green Line light rail trains
Local buses (exact cash fare or Day Pass required)
Note: Local fare is valid for all bus routes except express routes numbered in the 200s. Express routes require a System fare.
FLEX service along local service route (exact cash fare or Day Pass required)
System =
All DART buses and trains
Trinity Railway Express trains between Union Station and West Irving Station
DART On-Call and FLEX service
Regional =
All DART buses and trains (except Paratransit)
All Trinity Railway Express service, plus the T in Fort Worth
DART On-Call and FLEX service
Reduced =
Applicable on bus and rail for the following:
Seniors (65 or older) with valid DART photo ID
Non-paratransit certified persons with disabilities with valid DART photo ID
Medicare card holders
Children ages 5-14 (Children under age 5 may ride free when accompanied by an adult with valid local, system, regional or reduced fare [up to four children].)
High school students with valid DART or student photo ID from a school within the DART service area
Note: DART Rail Reduced Fare within the CBD has been eliminated.

[mjblazin]

I also would like to see something like the ticket booklets, where I don't have to scrounge for exact change any time I'm taking DART.

I hope DART eventually goes to a system like London, where you can buy day passes or get an "Oyster" card for continuous use with a maximum amount charged per day.

If you have passes not assigned to a given day, e.g., (a booklet of seven uses, then you simply have the homeless kicking into high gear the trade in "used" tickets. Towards the end of day, it's not unusual I'm approached for my ticket if it's obvious I'm headed home.

With no one "taking" the tickets and no dates, the same ticket could be used and traded/sold numerous times.

[msutton]

Do it like Europe -- put a ticket time stamp machine at every station (not very expensive), and if you're caught with a ticket that's not stamped, BIG FINE.

[Anthony]

I got my $65 cash back at the DART store after a little hassle, but the credit card has to be refunded on the card. It could take up to 10 days.

[Dbadger]

Do it like Europe -- put a ticket time stamp machine at every station (not very expensive), and if you're caught with a ticket that's not stamped, BIG FINE.

You would think that this is an easy fix (and it is)
Validation stamps are already used at every station for certain tickets, so they are already available
However, they do not want them to be public use because of alleged fraud
They say that people cut the bottom of the tickets and reuse them.
We asked them if they can have the tickets printed with a border of different color so it would be obvious if somebody does cut the bottom but they are just not interested to do anything about that.
Its just not high on DART's list