Reply With QuoteYour odds of being assaulted, in any way, on a DART train or bus are extremely low.Originally Posted by quixomniac
I agree about the odds of being sexually assaulted, for the time being.
I was referring to violent assaults, not of the sexual nature.
Indecent exposure is a given on Dart.
Your odds of being assaulted, in any way, on a DART train or bus are extremely low.
DART appears to be testing and rolling out arrival times on the Red/Orange Line information screens as is already done on the Green Line. I noticed it yesterday at Galatyn Park and this morning at other stops along the way. Instead of just the date and time, the screen will display something like "Red Line 7, Orange Line 13" and as trains approach it will change to a flashing "Arriving" with scrolling info on the train: "Orange Line to Bachman," for instance, along with announcements on the platform speakers. Some of the screens still just say "test" for now; implementation is not complete.
Any numbers to supports that claim?
DART has a weekday ridership of around 230,000. Throw in weekends and that's over 60,000,000 passengers in a year. A few hundred assaults in 2011, many of which were no doubt among people who knew each other...
Your odds of being assaulted by a stranger on a DART bus or train are virtually 0.
Random tidbit from today. The train designation signs start flipping through all the colors and destination options just prior to a line terminus (e.g. Downtown Garland). I noticed there were already terminus signs readied for Rowlett and DFW and UNT. And, of course including the black on white for things like Victory runs. The sign shuffled pretty quickly so I might have missed something designating I-20 prior to catching the other ones noted.
Between White Rock and Lake Highlands stations is like another world.
How do you mean?
Just a very nice run, kind of forget where you are with all the foilage/green surrounding.
Oh; and you're right. If that WR Station development ever gets going, it'll be like an "oasis in the clearing" (I hope).
My DART experience has been, poor. Very poor. I won't be riding again for sometime. Maybe if DART sets up a bus from where I live to where I work so I can make zero transfers, but other than that I am essentially through with them. No wonder their ridership is low, the way they work to drive away the individuals who used public transit everyday to and from work.
What was your typical commuter experience like?
Casual observations or just curiosities from the last few days. Those s-curve tracks north of Pearl Station that aren't used anymore sure are really getting overgrown, just like all the super-tall grass surrounding the old Dallas High School. Like, seriously overgrown. . .
Also at Pearl Station, looks like they're laying foundation this morning to install a digital sign.
Someone tell DART to get on this stat...
http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/23/m...one-ticketing/
MBTA and Masabi team up for first smartphone rail ticketing system in the US, launching in Boston this fall
In Boston this fall, you won't need to keep up with your train ticket anymore -- as long as you don't leave your smartphone at home. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and Masabi have joined forces to bring a rail ticketing to handheld devices via iPhone, Android and BlackBerry apps. Headquartered in London, Masabi has launched similar tech for transit companies in the UK, eliminating ticket lines for many smartphone-wielding passengers. Software will allow riders to purchase tickets and passes that are validated with a barcode scan by conductors equipped with mobile devices of their own. MBTA is looking to cut costs and provide added convenience with the new system instead of adding more ticketing kiosks to its stations. The aforementioned apps will be developed alongside focus groups and a small pilot group this summer with a full rollout to all MBTA customers expected to happen this fall. Looking for a bit more info? Hit the coverage and source links below to read on.
I know there was more than a few times it would have been convenient for me to jump on the train and buy a ticket on my iPhone as it left the station real close to my arrival time without having to stand behind that lady who takes too long to use the one ticket machine that works at the Downtown Garland station. Course the big question for some is if you are able to purchase a ticket so easily what would stop people from getting on the train and only buy a ticket at the last minute when the ticket enforcement cop starts checking? How many people could get away with this method of simply buying a ticket at the last second only if they get caught.
The Press Release goes over the simple fact that Boston already allows patrons to buy a ticket on board a train. Adding in this mobile ticketing would simply reduce the need to continue to keep as many ticket booths on the trains and at the stations.
Less than half of MBTA’s 140 Commuter Rail stations have fare vending machines, forcing many customers to pay for tickets on board. But that will soon change as riders will be able to purchase tickets via credit or debit cards directly from their phones. Monthly pass holders will be able to seamlessly link a plastic CharlieCard to their pass allowing them “tap-in” instead of using magnetic tickets for the MBTA subway and bus systems.
But I still have to wonder how DART could offer some of the same ease of ticket purchases on a mobile device while keeping people from cheating the DART train system. I guess my real question is how does MBTA counter this kind of issue already.
They could make GPS a requirement to use the app - you must buy your ticket within 100 yards of the station. I guess people could move around and avoid collection until they're close enough to a station to buy (wouldn't be hard in downtown), but I think that would help. I would use definitely use this.
The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands. - Robert Persig
Stay classy San Diego! (Pearl Station by mobile. . .)
Image Source: http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...78053487_n.jpg | Page Source: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fb...type=1&theater
Source should be public if I set it correctly. . .
... or die trying, in my video debut
http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallas...ith-me-to.html
Also, who else has a miserable or dangerous walk to get to DART?
This is the area where Richardson is trying to build that massive TOD development correct?
I wonder who the dude is that always does the same freeze pose when a train pulls away at Akard. (Or, is it Saint Paul? Ugh. Now, I can't remember. . .) Anyway, it's: every. single. damn. day.
Is he a Street Zine guy? There was a guy that would do the same thing on the corner of Elm and Akard.
Woodall/Pearl and Pearl/Ross in afternoon heading to Pearl Station (to a slightly lesser extent on the latter) aren't pleasing, however, it just requires a bit more caution to make sure the drivers that are texting and turning don't mow you down. They're honey badgers.
Don't even attempt Saint Paul Station from the other side of Woodall. You will die. Find Mike and let him streetcar you for this stretch.
EDIT: This is in reply to Rodger Jones.
Last edited by CTroyMathis; 11 May 2012 at 05:46 PM.
Yes, that's the one!
He cracks me up!
Yes, it is.
The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands. - Robert Persig
Who's responsible for installing sidewalks everywhere else in Richardson; Dart, the city, or the future developer? This is one station that should not have been built until the developers built something, anything!
Ok, so asked one of his fellows at Union Station today, that guys name is Richard. . .
Good to know. Thanks!
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Wow DART is bad. I left my car at the shop on Lemmon and walked two miles back to my apartment. I was thinking I could catch the bus and take it, but I decided to walk down Lemmon instead of waiting as a stop. I walked the entire 2 mile walk without a single bus going by! Talk about some low frequencies, I didn't time my walk but it likely took about half an hour, maybe longer.
Was this today (Saturday)? During weekdays, it's about 40-50 minutes in between each bus, except at peak times when they come every 20 minutes? What time were you walking?
The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands. - Robert Persig
Use the DART text tools. You just text the ID number on the top of the bus stop and it tells you the next few buses and times. You can also do the same thing at. m.dart.org and will use location finder.
Dart's bus system is awful. I tried commuting this way for about 3 weeks and got so fed up. I either drive to work or drive to a Dart rail stop and take the train from there.
Around noon. I know how to use the DART website to check for buses, still these frequencies are horrible. I didn't mind the walk at all, in fact I was planning on walking until I say the DART bus signs and thought about catching it even though I have stated I don't plan on using DART again (I have major issues with their customer service) I'd figure I would give it a try. I use to be a regular DART user so I always understood that they had frequencies which were lower on the weekends, but it was just interesting deciding on the spur of the moment to use them and having them nowhere to be seen. If someone can walk two miles quicker than it takes for a bus to arrive then no wonder DART is having ridership problems.
Last edited by DallasMichael; 20 May 2012 at 09:51 AM.
(Re: PGBT Station)
What, the station that is one of the busier park-and-ride locations on the system? Why do you hate Red Line ridership? Don't let the poor-planning, no-bus-riding whiners get you down
"Ultimately, helmet laws save a few brains but destroy many hearts."
- T.J. DeMarco
Google Maps app. DART schedules integrated into its directions. Open the app, enter where you want to go, click on the transit icon, get list of DART options.
For example:
I take DART buses to work and home every day. They are great. I save around $500/month via DART. Riding the bus also benefits the city by taking another car off the road while investing my dollars in our public transit system as opposed to sending them to Detroit, Tokyo, and Saudi Arabia, among other places.
If you find DART buses inconvenient, you are probably living in the wrong place. Move closer to the core. Better for you, better for your city.
That's not true. The buses there run inconsistently and as I have always said, I don't see how a successful bus system can be set up with the way the streets in Dallas change direction so frequently.
Use the mobile DART option of where is my bus. Usually it works very well allowing me to step out at the Imminent indication (within 3 minutes). DART is not a grid system like in NY or Chicago where you just grab any bus headed on a street in a particular direction. You have to plan every use. I simply keep about 25 links on my smartphone for my particular locations. The text of ID number to 41411 works for the ad hoc uses. I still believe in my 20 minute rule and travel accordingly.
DART will get you almost everywhere except that dead area roughly equal to Park Cities, Preston Hollow, and Dallas area west of Tollway between Mockingbird and NW Highway until Midway, the dead zone. You just have to work the system.
But you have to make so many transfers to get places using the buses here it becomes an inconvenience.
For the last time I know how to use DART's website. They also have iPhone apps. I just found it amazing that I could walk along one of the bus routes for two miles and see nothing, no bus in either direction. DART is sad, I use to plan my day around transit. However they are becoming very inconvenient and their customer service very poor.
Being a former dedicated DART user I knew exactly which route to take. I was just surprised by the frequencies on that day
It's good to know I can out walk DART! Haha!
I wonder how many bus riders also have smart phones.
I frequently use this station and i understand what electricron is saying(Re: PGBT Station)
What, the station that is one of the busier park-and-ride locations on the system? Why do you hate Red Line ridership? Don't let the poor-planning, no-bus-riding whiners get you down
It is one of the busier stations, but it totally a park-n-ride, it is not a station that you can walk to at all though.
It is totally isolated by highways and empty lots, youd have to use the service roads on the highways to get there,which is not one the safest things to do.
Walking on the lot is forbidden because it is private property, and the lot is actually fenced off from the station, which makes things odd.
The reason it doesnt have sidewalks is because its someone else's property,all empty lots in richardson have no sidewalks, if anything its richardson's fault it is so hard to get there on foot or bike, the property owners do have a TOD planned, but I don't see a sidewalk coming anytime soon.
If you want to get there you should honestly ride the bus 883 that basically circulates that area.
From my observations on buses, smartphones (and high end athletic shoes) do not seem to have a economic dividing line. I cannot tell difference between Apple and Android, given my choice is a 5+ years old HTC model. As I have gotten used to with my 16 years old Volvo, almost everybody on bus has a newer and more featured model.
There are also some really affordable and cheap smart phones out there. Just checked some discout carriers, and there are 70 dollar Android phones in the market now.
The city and property owners are working on a sidewalk/paved trail now.
The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands. - Robert Persig
They was an article recently on CNET about how smart phones recently passed traditional "featured" cell phones in the U.S.
Another story on the DMN about the ridership of DART light rail.
http://transportationblog.dallasnews...for-dart.html/
It is definitely interesting that the ridership is about the same today as it was in 2008 before the green line. Then again DART has worked to ensure individuals such as myself do not use their transit system so I find it unsurprising
Good article. A bit of a reality check. I would like to see him do a little longer, more thorough article on the topic.
There are several factors that can't be taken into account by simply looking at the numbers. DFW's economic resilience and affordability for instance, is something that caps transit ridership to a degree. Sound crazy? Consider this...
When my wife and I moved here from Los Angeles's San Fernando valley back in 2007 one thing immediately caught our attention. It seemed almost everyone here drove a new (or 'newer') car. Coming from the 'car capital' of LA this was quite surprising, but we quickly realized the lower cost of living allows for these 'luxury' items, and since we've been here we've upgraded and replaced our primary vehicle twice (something that was unthinkable in LA). Having a nice pair of wheels is a good reason to drive vs use transit. And the more I think about it... that's not a bad problem to have.
I had all but forgotten about the newer cars deal until we visited family in SoCal a couple of weeks ago and witnessed the opposite. Unless your in Beverly Hills, your quick to find yourself surrounded by cars at least ten years old.
Another thing folks need to avoid is comparing DFW transit systems to those of far more dense cities (Chicago, Boston, NYC). Sprawling cities like Los Angeles are far more comparable.
you have to understand, we have forces that feel the need to constantly give us, adults "reality checks" about our city even though we are quite aware of the failures( our local media likes to constantly remind us of how much Dallas sucks) and projects that don't meet expectations. So you will constantly see comparisons that make absolutely no sense at all.
Personally, I can't stand commuting and have always limited my driving to once a week by leveraging alternatives such as bicycle and transit (in LA 14 miles one way, here 6 miles). I have found DART to be far more enjoyable than LA's Metro. The ride is cleaner, faster, and cheaper. One of the worse aspects of LA's Metro WAS THE RIDERSHIP! One bus that I would take had five minute headways during rushhour and was absolutely PACKED every morning. I'm talking standing room almost always pushed beyond the white limit line at the front. Because of the numerous traffic lights, and stops it took FOREVER to reach your destination and you would repeatedly find buses on the same route back to back to back at a given stop. You would essentially take a deep breath before stepping inside and try to hold it as long as possible. It was a far cry from an optimal transit system even though they would rave about their bus RIDERSHIP #'s. We need to be very careful what we wish for.
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