North Dallas suburbs largely inhabited by upper middle class whites (with exception of Irving) want to exit DART because their residents don't use it enough. Snark aside, I'm halfway sympathetic. The problem isn't DART per se; it's US mass transit in general.
We need more routes run with smaller buses. Yes, you heard me right. Take those 24-passenger or whatever buses used in smaller transit agencies. Make them — especially if hybrid or all-electric — the backbone of your service. Use your larger, 56-passenger or however big they are, buses only for "express" routes that stop no more frequently than once a mile, if that. And, unless your light rail system has good ridership, while not gutting it, don't invest new money in it, certainly not in route expansion.
European and Asian countries mock most US mass transit because it's ill-designed, when it is, but rarely, funded adequately. They're right.
That said, the upper-middle class whites who run places like Plano have the wrong answer:
[T]he cities want their money back so they can try their hand at providing public transit the way they think may be more suitable for their communities. The main idea: ditching traditional buses in favor of taxpayer-funded ride-hailing services run by the cities themselves.
First, Uber and Lyft are private companies. So, you'd be subsidizing them, and "picking winners and losers," which is supposed to be anathema to conservative politicos.
This part of the answer?
Officials in Plano and Irving have pitched replacing regular bus service with “microtransit” — smaller buses or shuttles that can be hailed on-demand like an Uber or Lyft ride. DART already operates such a service called GoLink, including in Plano and Irving. Arlington, which isn’t a DART member and is the nation’s largest city without traditional public transit, also employs such a service. Plano and Irving officials want to go all in on microtransit, arguing it’s a better fit for suburban residents than standard buses.
Well, you should be getting DART to do that under the current arrangement, but without the on-demand angle. Regular routes, run even more frequently, but while making the large buses express routes only.
That's because, by itself, microtransit isn't the answer, even if Arlington, home of Under Ten Americans and Jethroworld, thinks it is. See this:
Microtransit is usually thought of as a last-mile service to get riders from a transit stop to their final destination, not a substitute for regular bus service, transportation experts said. Microtransit services also tend to cost more per rider than a fixed bus route, Freemark said.
And try to realize that.
Second, Uber, Lyft, et al NOT, by definition, "mass" transit. How hard is that to understand, unless, per the old bon mot, you're paid to not understand?
That said, what's really the issue is that local sales taxes that go to DART block these cities from implementing the 4B recreational development sales tax, and state taxation issues in general.
Negotiations with DART are ongoing. Let's hope both sides have brains for both today and tomorrow.
