It’s a hot and humid Tuesday afternoon and Devin Langley steps off a train car at the downtown Rowlett station.
A month ago he lost his car, and the only way for him to get around is using DART’s services.
“I can't pay for Uber every day so I really, really, really need DART," he said.
But those services could be at risk: Since May, more than half of DART member cities have discussed reducing their contributions to the agency by 25 percent. That includes Rowlett.
Langley said inflation makes living hard, and he’s against any funding cuts to the agency.
“Times are really bad, so I think the funding should stay where it is because people are going to have a harder time," Langley said.
Where cities stand on DART funding
Last month, Rowlett joined a growing list of cities that have passed symbolic resolutions supporting reducing their contributions to DART.
“We value our transit, we value having the light rail and the GoLink service that we have in the city of Rowlett," said Mayor Blake Margolis, "but we're concerned about multiple issues surrounding DART’s business."
That includes issues like safety and cleanliness. Margolis said he’s talked to residents who stopped using DART in recent years because of safety concerns.
“DART should be focused on the basic services, making sure they have clean trains, making sure they have safe trains," he said. "That in itself will promote an increase ridership across the platform."
A majority of DART’s revenue comes from a one-cent sales and use tax its member cities pay. Rowlett calculates it will have contributed $50 million between FY 2020 and FY 2025, according to city documents.
The agency collects hundreds of millions of dollars a year in sales tax revenue — but, Margolis said, the services don’t reflect that.
“A 25% reduction is really to draw DART to the table and to draw a DART in on trying to better itself," he said.
Other DART member cities, including Farmers Branch, Plano and Irving, have all passed almost identical resolutions to trim DART’s funding. Leaders in Dallas have also been considering reducing the city’s contribution to help fill a gap in the pension fund.
The debate has garnered more public attention after a council member in Farmers Branch was accused of calling DART riders "trash" during a discussion about reducing the city's contribution.
But not all cities want funding cuts. Garland City Council member Dylan Hedrick wants to maintain the funding as it is, and last month asked the council to introduce a resolution in support of DART.
“A lot of our industrial base workers rely on DART for transportation, and we just don't want to really ruin our relationship with DART by calling for that when we rely so heavily on it," he said.
Garland is second to Dallas in the number of residents who use DART, according to the agency.
Hedrick said he does hear other city’s concerns over safety and cleanliness, but he doesn’t think that should lead to cuts.
“They're trying to trying to improve just like everyone else is, and I don't want to damage that relationship by calling for any funding cuts right now because it's just too important to the city of Garland," Hedrick said.
Members of Richardson's city council also expressed their support for the agency during a meeting last month.
"I think the resolutions going on in some of those other DART member cities... they seem to be divorced from reality as far as the work that DART is taking and as far as our regional transit and regional mobility goals," council member Joe Corcoran said.
DART CEO Nadine Lee said in a memo earlier this year that any reduction in funding would impact services and hurt the agency’s budget.
What DART board members are saying
Any reduction in the sales tax contribution would be up to state statute or the DART board, which is divided on the issue.
"I just cannot support the effort that I'm hearing from the cities who need more money. We got to find a solution for that," DART board chair Gary Slagel said during a meeting last month. "It shouldn't be taking money away from DART."
Slagel, who represents Richardson and the Park Cities on the board, is among the most vocal opponents to sales tax reductions.
KERA reached out to all 15 members of DART's board of directors asking whether they would support a reduction in member city contributions. Enrique MacGregor reiterated comments he made in a Dallas Morning News op-ed, calling the move "myopic."
"A reduction in funding would necessarily mean reduction in service," he said.
Board members Randall Bryant, Marc Abraham and Patrick Kennedy all told KERA they would oppose cutting the contribution.
"Nevertheless," Bryant said in his written response, "with an expected FY 2024-2025 sales tax revenue of $910.2M to DART from our member cities, I do agree that the councils, city managers and voters should always ensure there is a true value in the DART penny."
Other members are willing to compromise. Vice chair Rodney Schlosser, one of several Dallas representatives on the board, said he's not ruling out the option to reduce funding.
"DART is a product of the member cities and largely funded by taxpayers. We should embrace interest in improving the operation, and finding efficiencies," Schlosser told KERA in a written statement. "Returning a portion of the DART sales to the member cities has implications, and we should explore those tradeoffs as a Board, and with the cities."
More than half of the members did not respond to several requests for comment.
The board is anticipating the results of two surveys in the coming months to weigh in on the issue. One is being conducted by Ernst & Young, looking at cost allocation by member cities. Another looks at the Regional Transportation Council’s plan to expand transit services by 2050, dubbed Transit 2.0.
Both surveys could have an impact on the decision over sales tax contributions.
Impact on riders
Back at the downtown Rowlett station, Vicki Updike sits outside the platform waiting for her ride. She said fewer services could make getting around even less accessible for people with disabilities like her.
“I could not afford to do without DART," she said. "I would leave the city of Rowlett ... if they reduced DART, because there's no other transportation around here to get anywhere."
She said cutting funding simply makes no sense.
“You cannot reduce anything to make it better," Updike said. "All you can do is try and change the programs, maybe adjust it to another area or another pocket, but you can't take it away and expect them to do better."
So as cities ponder over the future of DART, at the end of the day, it’s the riders who will be affected by those decisions.
Pablo Arauz Peña is KERA’s growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org. You can follow him on X @pabloaarauz.
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