DART Must Raise Rates, But It Should Expand Discounts to the Working Poor

The Dallas Area Rapid Transit board has given itself more time to decide whether and how to raise fares. That was smart. With so many new board members — including four appointed by Dallas alone this summer — a slow-down was wise. DART officials say a new vote on raising fares won't come before October. But the hard part comes next. The board must use that time to solve one of DART's most persistent puzzles: How to balance the need for more money to meet rising expenses against the need to draw more riders to the under-utilized system? The proposed fare increases would roughly mean an across-the-board hike of 20 percent. DART says that without the new revenue, its cash flow would turn negative by 2026.   Continue reading...