DART staff met with Irving residents Wednesday night for the first in a series of 14 community meetings outlining potential service changes in 2026.
The main topic of the evening? What happens if a city leaves DART.
The discussion came as DART works to negotiate with member cities thinking about leaving the transit system, with a potential deal that could stave off elections now on the table. That deal involves a new governance and funding model that would, in part, give sales tax contributions back to member cities across six years.
The Dallas City Council also voted this week to reduce the city’s voting power on the DART board, giving up majority control for the first time.
At the Irving event, DART CEO Nadine Lee said the transit agency is actively working with cities to address their concerns.
“There isn't a single person at DART who wants the cities to proceed with the election, and so we are doing everything we can to see what we can do to rescind the elections,” Lee said.
If Irving voters choose to withdraw from DART, services will cease the day after the votes are counted. Irving will lose access to two Trinity Railway Express stations and six light rail stations, in addition to seeing modifications and discontinuations of bus routes and GoLink zones. Paratransit services would also be cut.
Lee said cities would continue to owe a debt obligation on DART infrastructure, like rail stations. While the city continues to pay its 1-cent sales tax to DART, trains would pass through without stopping to pick up passengers. This arrangement could last for years.
“Depending on the size of the debt obligation, we are still obligated to collect the penny sales tax within the City of Irving until such time that that debt obligation is paid off.” Lee said.
Irving officials have said in recent months that they’re seeking alternative microtransit options that could go live in the immediate aftermath of a withdrawal vote. The city received proposals from various providers.
At the community meeting, City Council member Al Zapanta told the crowd that DART has been responsive to the city’s 13-point list of asks, sent to the transit agency in November.
“They’re trying to make this work, so are we,” Zapanta said. “When you're in this kind of negotiation, they're not going to get everything that they want, nor are we, but we're going to get something to try to make it work.”
But multiple Irving attendees raised concerns about the recent loss of bus routes 225 and 255. The bus route closures were unrelated to withdrawal elections and were instead the result of a tight budget.
While fielding questions from the audience, DART Director of Service Planning Hans-Michael Ruthe said the decision was “a very difficult” one to make.
“There were a lot of budget constraints that we had to respond to,” Ruthe said. “It was an extraordinary need at that time and it's not something that we did happily.”
Ruthe noted that, while not always ideal, GoLink serves as an alternative to the 225 and 255 bus routes.
In response to concerns about the bus route cuts, Lee pointed out remarks made the day before by Irving Mayor Rick Stopfer, also a member of the DART board.
“If you were paying attention to yesterday's board meeting, you may have heard Mayor Stopfer suggest that any funding that comes to the City of Irving could be used to restore the bus services,” Lee said.
At the board meeting, Stopfer said of a potential compromise, “I don't think that there's anyone in the mayors I've talked to who have said that they're not willing to work on something.”
Lee emphasized that her team can’t predict how withdrawal votes will shake out, if they go forward at all. No one will know how many cities are withdrawing, if any, until voters make their decisions.
As of today, six DART member cities are still considering withdrawing: Plano, Irving, Highland Park, University Park, Farmers Branch and Addison.
Cities have until mid-March to cancel their withdrawal elections.
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