DART resumes bus service early Sunday morning after suspending all service earlier this week for the first time ever because of snow and ice in North Texas.
DART said bus service will restart at 5 a.m. Sunday with rail service resuming at noon.
The deep freeze thaw started in earnest Saturday with more of us out and about and bits of green re-emerging from the white landscape.
But as cars and trucks filled the roadways and the McKinney Avenue Trolley resumed service, Rico Reddix couldn’t help noticing what was not running near the West End Transit Station.
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“I was trying to catch the train to Oak Cliff but it’s not going to happen,” Reddix said. “So, I have to go back downtown.”
DART suspended all service, bus and rail, midday Friday for the first time in its 39-year history.
But as the Hard Freeze Warning expired early Saturday and the melting kicked into high gear DART said some bus routes, many along shady streets in its 13-city service area were still too slick to operate.
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“It’s ice that will always be the hardest to deal with,” external communications director Gordon Shattles said.
Robert Opel was photographing some winter scenes near Klyde Warren Park on Saturday. Opel said he uses DART daily but his downtown employer covered the cost of an Uber from Garland, about $40. He said the decision by DART to wait to restart bus service until 5 a.m. Sunday with rail resuming seven hours later, is the right call.
“We learned from last year, last year was treacherous,” Opel said. “They’re just being cautious and keeping everybody safe.”
Shattles said before this winter event, DART did not have an operating scenario that included the stopping of both rail and bus service. In the February 2021 storm, limited bus service remained in operation.
“It is certainly not something we ever want to go through again,” Shattles said. “We want to get our riders and passengers back on the road as quick as possible. Get them where they need to go but, now, safely.”
