DART Wants to Drop Four Routes, Shift Buses to Other Riders as Part of Overhaul

Dallas Area Rapid Transit will hold a public hearing in late September on changes to it bus service planned for March of next year, including the elimination of at least four routes.DART is trying to free up buses on underused routes to accelerate plans to increase how often buses run where more riders need them. DART bus ridership dropped from 121,999 bus riders on an average weekday in 2015 to 113,095 in 2016.In the short term, the agency hopes to have buses run more frequently during some off-peak times, such as on weekends, midday or in the evening, to ensure that riders who now wait anywhere from an hour to 40 minutes, would wait no longer than 30 minutes.Bigger changes targeting the busiest routes during the busiest times of the day are planned for August 2019, when the agency will have 41 new buses to help improve service.The Dallas Area Rapid Transit board’s planning committee voted Tuesday afternoon to set the public hearing for the proposed March 2018 bus service changes. Before September’s public hearing, DART staff plan to hold community meetings to seek customer feedback.The board is expected to vote on the proposed changes by the end of the year.  Continue reading...