Trinity Metro to host community events to help craft 5-year strategic plan

The population boom in Fort Worth over the last few years has caused city services like Trinity Metro to rethink the way it serves the masses.

This weekend, the transit agency is launching a series of community fairs to help meet the needs of its riders.

Trinity Metro leadership said they have added a million riders every year for the past two years. For this last fiscal year, about 7 million riders in total have passed through their train and bus system.

"The city of Fort Worth has recently moved up that list of largest cities in the United States to roughly 12th in the nation. With so many people coming to Fort Worth and to Tarrant County, there is a lot of opportunity for us to help provide service, help reduce congestion, improve emissions and air quality here in Tarrant County as well,” said Chad Edwards, executive vice president of strategy, planning and development for Trinity Metro.

With so much growth in North Texas, that means the agency is prioritizing putting a five-year strategic plan together to tackle the changes that have taken place post-pandemic in Fort Worth.

"It's hard to do a strategic plan if you don't have the input of the public. And so that's where these community meetings are very important for us to get that information from them so that we'll be able to input that as we're developing the strategic plan," said Edwards.

The plan will help pave the way for more stations, better routes, and more projects to better serve the growing ridership.

“At Trinity Metro, we talk a lot about the nuts and bolts of what the future of our transportation system looks like,” said Rich Andreski, President and CEO of Trinity Metro. “This conversation will be formalized with our five-year strategic transportation plan—but we can’t craft that plan without input from the community, because Trinity Metro belongs to the community. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to share information and hear what people have to say about public transit.” 

New projects already in the works include the extension of Tex-Rail to the medical district in Fort Worth where there's more than 40,000 jobs that could benefit from a new rail station. Trinity Metro is also in the process of launching a Mansfield on-demand rideshare service on July 15th.

The upcoming Trinity Metro Community events will feature a relaxed, interactive, come-and-go format where attendees will be encouraged to ask questions and offer opinions. New services and service updates that will be featured during the series include:

• Trinity Metro On-Demand (ridesharing and paratransit services)
• Improvements to Fort Worth T&P Station
• Grand opening of Trinity Lakes Station
• Western-themed rebrand launch of Route 15
• Trinity Metro On-Demand Mansfield launch
• Trinity Metro On-Demand Alliance rebrand/service change
• Downtown bus rebrand replacing Molly the Trolley
• Trinity Metro Bikes launch
• Alliance Express Bus Route with guaranteed on-time service 
• Bus routes and service fare updates 

Family-friendly activities will be offered at each event to engage children during the meetings. There will also be drawings for three-month transit passes and branded Trinity Metro gear. 

Pre-registration is encouraged, but not required. Anyone who pre-registers will be entered into a drawing for a complimentary three-month ticket. All who attend will receive a one-day transit ticket.

Those who cannot attend the event are encouraged to leave feedback via the Trinity Metro community engagement website, available at ridetrinitymetro-engage.org/community, or to engage@ridetrinitymetro-engage.org.

COMMUNITY EVENT SCHEDULE

Saturday, June 15 - 11:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m.
Fort Worth T&P Station, 221 W. Lancaster Ave., Fort Worth 76102 – on Route 6 or TEXRail

Thursday, June 20 - 6-7:30 p.m.
Fire Station Community Center, 1601 Lipscomb St., Fort Worth 76104 – on Route 1

Saturday, June 22 - 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Eugene McCray Community Center, 4932 Wilbarger St., Fort Worth 76119 – on Route 55

Tuesday, June 25 - 6-7:30 p.m.
R.D. Evans Community Center, 3242 Lackland Rd., Fort Worth 76116 – on Route 2

Wednesday, June 26 -  6-7:30 p.m.
Riverside Community Center, 3700 E. Belknap St., Fort Worth 76111 – on Route 11, 54

Thursday, June 27 - 6-7:30 p.m.
Northside Community Center, 1100 N.W. 18th St., Fort Worth 76164 – on Route 46