December 25, 2025 - TRA Commentary -

So, maybe Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) hasn't been the easiest for member cities to work with, has not been transparent enough, or focused closer on individual city needs. And, by the way, that's a two-way street. But calling for a DART withdrawal election in 2026 may not be the smartest move elected leaders are pushing, and it could lead to a host of unintended consequences.

Four cities in the DART service area will ask their citizens to vote on withdrawing from DART's transit system this coming spring.

Voters will decide if they stay or leave DART, which serves their community with train, bus and para-transit options. One city, Addison, thought about asking their citizens to decide and then, smartly, had a change of heart. Not so for Irving, Plano, Farmers Branch and Highland Park officials that feel they have been shortchanged on service for sales tax collected, and will go ahead with a public vote.

This brouhaha comes at a time when the Texas Department of Transportation, just issued its draft Statewide Multimodal Transit Plan. The two-year deep dive study points out that our cities will need more and expanded transit options for a state that is bursting at its seams, not fewer.

It also comes as the Regional Transportation Council at the North Central Texas Council of Government is wading deep into what it calls Regional Transit 2.0. NCTCOG is planning for a Year 2050 Study that includes efforts to develop strategies for fostering partnerships and effective collaboration among transit authorities and city leaders throughout North Texas.

Cities that vote to pull out of DART could become "transit deserts", disconnected from the present regional rail and bus network, making it more difficult for citizens to travel from point A to point B.  It could create future traffic nightmares as transit riders place more vehicles in service on city streets or call for more Uber and Lyft rides, again adding even more vehicles to traffic.

One has only to look at North Texas expressways and main thoroughfares during morning and afternoon peak times, which can stretch from 6am to past 7pm or later to see we need more transportation options for a growing North Texas metroplex. 

One of the cities putting the DART vote to the public is Plano. According to Dallas Area Transit Alliance (DATA), the city of Plano has "no realistic plan to replace DART, and attempting to do so would harm thousands who rely on dependable regional transportation every day.

A committee was hastily cobbled together to look at alternatives in case voters do throw out the DART baby with the bathwater.

In a news release DATA "commended the efforts of the Collin County Connects Committee to forge a path forward despite numerous roadblocks and a lack of information. The disarray and confusion during the committee proceedings demonstrates what transit riders have known from the beginning. There was never a functional plan. The committee was appointed and then given just two weeks to make a vendor recommendation, an objectively unreasonable timeframe for designing or evaluating any transit network."

DATA said they monitored the vendor selection process "with cautious optimism. We hoped the city would present a serious, data driven vision for how it would meet the mobility needs of Plano residents if it withdraws from DART. Instead, what unfolded over the last month revealed deep, structural gaps in the city’s approach."

In the end, an alarming premise was pushed to the committee: that the committee members should rank paratransit users, seniors, the economically disadvantaged, downtown travelers, business travelers, and standard transit riders to determine who deserves priority on service and affordability.

Public transit is a public service. It is built to serve everyone, not to pick winners and losers based on arbitrary prioritization exercises. Good governance demands better leadership. Asking volunteers to determine the future of mobility for 300,000 residents in less than a month without clear data, objective analysis, or real-world modeling is not responsible policymaking.

Our recommendation: Let the TxDOT Statewide Multimodal Transit Plan and the North Central Texas Council of Government's Regional Transit 2.0 get its legs. Putting DART on notice should sharpen up the focus of the DART board to serve their member cities with services they need and find sensible solutions. 

A region with a hopscotch transit program is asking for future headaches

The four cities should take a step back and drop the DART withdrawal referendum.

Photo credit: Texas Rail Advocates