Alex Flores is a disabled Plano resident who has been riding the trains and buses in Dallas Area Rapid Transit's service area since they were 13 years old.
When Flores was just getting a driving permit, they were coping with the loss of friends and family in a car accident. At that point, it just made sense to keep riding DART.
“There's never been a need for me to drive because public transit has been more than willing and more than able to fulfill my needs for travel," Flores said.
Ever since Plano's city council called an election to potentially withdraw from DART, Flores has been facing some complicated choices in a short time frame.
“They are basically saying, 'Hey, we've announced that we're possibly pulling out of DART if you guys vote yes, and so you have three months to prepare,'" Flore said. "Do I need to quit my job and find a place that's within walkable distance?”
In May voters in Plano, along with Farmers Branch, Highland Park and Irving, will choose to stay in or leave Dallas Area Rapid Transit. After more than a year of debate over funding, city leaders say they can provide their own transit service to replace DART.
“We're an easy target because we're sales tax and the cities look at that sales tax that goes to DART as theirs,” said Gary Slagel, a longtime member of the DART board and former Richardson mayor.
DART gets a penny from every sales tax dollar collected from its 13 member cities. During the recent legislative session, a group of North Texas lawmakers advocated on behalf of some of those cities for a bill that would have reduced that contribution, but the effort failed.
“Now they're saying, 'OK, we gotta do something, so let's just get out completely,'" Slagel said. "We're working with the cities, trying to determine what it is we can do to make that work better for them."
DART leaders have said if voters decide to leave the system, all train and bus service will immediately end within their city limits.
Ridership woes and city complaints
The elections come as public transit agencies struggle nationwide. Ridership dropped during the pandemic and still hasn’t fully recovered, said Julene Paul, a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington who studies transit and equity.
“There was all this money out there that the Biden administration put out to help agencies kind of white knuckle through, and then now that's gone,” she said.
The last time any cities left DART was in 1989, when Flower Mound and Coppell voted to opt out. In 1996, withdrawal elections in Plano and Irving failed.
Plano Mayor John Muns said his city’s leadership has long been dissatisfied with the ridership on DART on top of other issues.
“We've been very frustrated with the service, the cleanliness," Muns said. "The safety and obviously the rising costs that have continued to go up and up every year.”
He said the only way to make a change with DART is to hold the election.
“If our voters say stay in DART, then that's what we're going to do and we're gonna be, you know, a good member of DART and we're to make the best of it,” Muns said.
DART's response
DART CEO Nadine Lee told KERA the agency is looking at proposals from cities that could keep them from holding elections altogether.
Irving is asking for additional bus lines. Plano wants to keep trains and express bus service, but get rid of regular bus routes.
“We're continuing to try to work with the cities," Lee said. "I mean obviously, it's in everyone's best interest if we don't have to have this fight right now."
Despite the talks, Plano is already looking at alternatives, including microtransit. That means trains and buses could be replaced by rideshare services similar to Uber or Lyft.
In Plano, Alex Flores said that doesn’t work for riders like them.
“It really does not feel like they care about not just me, but about any of the people who use DART, which is of course primarily your poor and disabled folks,” Flores said.
Unless DART and the cities compromise, come this May, trains and buses could stop running across much of North Texas.
Pablo Arauz Peña is KERA’sgrowth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo atparauzpena@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.
