Dallas Area Rapid Transit leaders are delaying a vote on service changes that would cut bus routes and reduce light rail frequency.
During a committee meeting Tuesday, directors voted to push back a decision on the changes until Sept. 9.
Meanwhile, directors approved raising fares from $3 to $4 for a single-ride ticket and increasing paratransit fares by 50 cents, effective next year.
The agency has been in a bind in recent months as it tries to negotiate with member cities that say they’re not getting their money’s worth in services. DART is cutting its own budget by 5% to fund a General Mobility Program that will return some of its funding back to eligible cities.
Those cuts include reducing frequency on light rail and some bus routes, and eliminating several other bus routes completely.
“We don't have enough money to do everything,” said board chair Gary Slagel, who was among the board members who voted against delaying a decision on the changes.
The agency has faced widespread pushback against the cuts. David Yaqubian, a member of the advocacy group Dallas Area Transit Alliance, told the full board of directors Tuesday the service cuts hurt riders.
“We appreciate that staff is trying to do what they can to minimize the impact of those service cuts," he said. "This is getting to be too much and we need to start thinking about the future."
During a recent meeting, the board decided to pull back some of the most controversial proposed service changes – including cuts to paratransit service – in response to public outcry.
The vote on Tuesday was close – 8 to 7 – in deciding whether to wait two more weeks to approve any service changes.
The majority of Dallas representatives on the board voted to delay the decision after director Randall Bryant proposed a motion to give the directors more time to communicate the impact of service changes in member cities.
“We have meetings with all of the cities in two days to talk about the budget,” Bryant said. “The cost of delayed implementation, for me, it's not an exclusion. It's a point of consideration.”
Plano director Anthony Ricciardelli also voted to hold off on approving changes to have more time to examine bus routes that reportedly have low ridership.
“There are some routes I'm looking at, you know, basically high subsidy per rider, relatively low ridership… that I would say let's look at the frequency on these routes, maybe in a couple of cases, let's look at discontinuing routes,” Ricciardelli said. “That would at least send a message that we're trying to start closing that gap between contribution and investment back in Plano.”
DART CEO Nadine Lee told directors the delay will put staff and the agency in an “extraordinarily difficult” situation.
“I think we need to move forward with these changes because, you know, trying to cobble together yet another completely different service plan is highly risky from a budget perspective,” she said.
Rob Smith, vice president of service and planning, told directors any delay on the proposed changes will cost the agency $2 million per month. The two-week delay will amount to a loss of about $1 million, he said.
DART CFO Jamie Adelman told directors the decision will put staff in an even tighter timeline than the previously proposed January rollout.
“Trying to make the service change in January is already tight, considering we have a state fair, we have the Texas-OU game, we have Silver Line launch, we have Thanksgiving, we have Christmas, we have New Year's,” Adelman said. “It's complicated, it's not a fast process.”
Pablo Arauz Peña is KERA’s growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org.
KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.
