Highland Park is poised to leave Dallas Area Rapid Transit later this month as voters there appear to support a measure to withdraw from the agency.
Unofficial results from Saturday’s election show 69.5% of voters say “no” to staying in DART. Results were still coming in as of 10:40 p.m.
Meanwhile voters in Addison and University Park appear to support remaining a part of the regional transit system. In Addison — which just got its first DART rail station with the opening of the Silver Line in October — unofficial election results show the measure to stay in DART passing with 69.6% of votes as of 10 p.m.; 53.3% of voters in University Park voted to stay in the system.
The three cities called elections earlier this year following friction with the agency over funding and governance. Leaders at DART spent months negotiating with city leaders on ways to keep the agency together.
Some leaders in the three cities say they don't want to keep paying one percent of their sales tax each year, which add up to about $30 million in contributions to the agency.
“North Texas is projected to become the largest metropolitan region in the country by late-century, yet no other city has the economic appetite to join DART,” Highland Park Mayor Will Beecherl wrote in a March op-ed in The Dallas Morning News.
Highland Park is served by a single bus route, Route 237, which runs along Preston Road. DART would cease all operations – including paratransit and on-demand GoLink service – in Highland Park after votes are canvassed on May 13.
The town council recently approved a contract with Via to provide microtransit services.
Highland Park would be the first city to leave DART since 1989, when Flower Mound and Coppell both withdrew. Cities are able to hold withdrawal elections every six years.
Transit advocates had been pushing for cities to stay in the system ever since the elections were called.
Farmers Branch, Irving and Plano had set their own elections, but recalled them in February after each city reached a deal with DART under which the agency will refund some tax revenue and restructure its governing board.
DART has said the loss of any of its 13 member cities would have a system-wide impact. Highland Park contributed about $6 million in tax revenue to the agency in 2023, according to a report by Ernst and Young.
The agency is also in the middle of hiring a new top leader after former CEO Nadine Lee stepped down last month.
Pablo Arauz Peña is KERA’s growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org.
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