How light rail pays its way in Dallas

Thinking outside the farebox, this southwestern metropolis is reaping big rewards from a fast-growing LRT system.

By Luther S. Miller

	While some people thought Texans would never give up their pickup trucks, DART's 20-mile starter line will soon grow to 95 miles. Pictured above: DART's new Cityplace Station. Dallas Area Rapid Transit Photo

The $1 fares that 37,500 riders a day pay to board light rail trains in Dallas, Tex., cover only about 17% of the cost of their rides. Rail transit's think-tank critics call it highway robbery. Dallas calls it something else.

The fact is that the light rail service introduced in this sprawling southwestern metropolis five years ago is widely viewed as a solid success, not only by the people who ride it but by a business community that has benefited hugely from its stimulus.

That's why Dallas is pushing ahead with the nation's largest passenger rail expansion program. Dallas Area Rapid Transit's 20-mile, 21-station starter light rail line will soon be more than doubled in size, and then will be doubled again to a system totaling 95 miles. It's also why outlying areas that are not among DART's 13 member cities are beginning to clamor for rail service. The spreading appetite for rail is whetted by a regional/commuter service, Trinity Railway Express, that will connect Dallas and Fort Worth by the end of this year, and in its incomplete phase is already carrying more than 4,000 riders a day.

Urban areas elsewhere that have failed to win voter support for transportation bond issues may take heart from the Dallas experience. After voters rejected a transit bond issue in 1989, DART's constituent communities voted to impose a one-cent transit sales tax. Half of that goes for capital costs and half for an operating subsidy. This enabled DART to build its $848-million starter system with 80% local funds, and 20% federal, a reversal of the usual formula. There's a greater federal contribution to the ongoing building program. DART has a $330 million full-funding agreement with the Federal Transit Administration to help pay for the 12.3-mile North Central extension that will reach Richardson in 2002 and Plano in 2003. The 11-mile Northeast extension to Garland will be fully funded by the local sales tax.

Still more new lines are planned, and based on light rail's initial success, taxpayers are enthusiastic. Last August DART's member cities voted by a three to one ratio to approve long-term financing to accelerate construction of future LRT lines to Carrolton, Farmers Branch, North Irving, South Dallas, Fair Park, Pleasant Grove, and Rowlett.

More services mean more cars, and in about five years DART will be in the market for 80 to 100 vehicles to augment the 95 that have been supplied by Kinkisharyo.

A class act pays off

Wherever DART has gone, business development has followed. Both business and residential developers cite proximity to DART as important determinants in site selection.

The economic benefits produced by DART derive from the fact that the system is a demonstrated crowd-pleaser.

"The main secret to our success is that the system is designed to save people time and money, and do it in a way that is safe and secure and pleasant," says DART President and Executive Director Roger Snoble. "In Dallas, you know, you have to do things in a way that's worthy of people's interest. We have modern-looking trains, we have great stations, we have art projects, we have helpful, friendly, uniformed security officers on our trains. I think this says to people that DART is an attractive alternative to driving in congestion." Adding to DART's reputation as a class act was the opening late in 2000 of the $50 million, stylishly-designed Cityplace Station in the subway section of the initial line.

"Some people said Texans would never give up their pickup trucks," says Snoble. "That undersells the qualities of Texans. They're very upbeat, very modern people, and they've just been waiting for some alternatives."

If rail transit is so effective, why is it so consistently fought by the think-tank drones? Why did it fail at the polls in Austin last year?

"Where these people are coming from are taxpayers' groups that don't want to pay tax money for anything except maybe their own projects," says Snoble. "I think the problem in Austin was one of taxes-you sometimes have the same problem building highways because you're asking the whole region to support a corridor improvement that may not serve everybody. Then there are the people who feel their automobiles are threatened. But they have a free choice. I always say that if you love your car you'll take good care of it and leave it in your garage, not in a parking lot."

Snoble is careful to suggest to visitors that the road to rail transit is not an easy one.

"We've had people from Austin and all over the state and country come here to look at DART," he says. "We always tell them light rail is not a slam-bang guarantee. It's got to really be planned properly, it's got to be in the right place. The advantage of light rail, of course, is that it has a broad range of operating situations so it can do a broad range of jobs. We take a lot of pride in designing the right tool for the job."

As for light rail's critics, he feels they're simply missing the point.

	DART's strategy is to keep people moving, providing access to every aspect of metropolitan life-education, jobs, shopping, health care-which is why it touted the late 2000 opening of its new $50 million Cityplace Station in the subway section of the initial line. Dallas Area Rapid Transit Photo

"Let's keep things moving"

"One thing that is important to point out to our critics is the economic development that has occurred around the rail lines," Snoble says. "Light rail is a real land-shaping tool, and we've seen it happen here big-time. The original public investment that we put into the system has paid itself back just in the private investment around the rail lines. It's a terribly strong argument against the people who don't see benefits measuring up to the costs."

Snoble freely acknowledges that the farebox pays only a fraction of operating costs. "Our focus, quite frankly, has nothing to do with farebox recovery. We've always said that half of that one-cent sales tax is used to support operations and keep fares low. That's important if we're going to get people out of their automobiles."

If DART's focus isn't on the farebox, it's very much on the economics of mobility.

"The question is, how do you make a large urban area able to continue to move, because that's such a critical part of every aspect of metropolitan life, from education to jobs to shopping to health care-to everything," says Snoble. "If a metropolitan area doesn't have good access to all the things it offers, then it doesn't work as a good urban area any more. Our strategy is simply, let's keep things moving."

It's a strategy that has won DART broad community approval.

"The media are big supporters; they're saying we really are making a difference," says Snoble. "The business community is a big supporter because if we get congested and things slow down, it costs them money. They also don't have to supply as many parking places for their employees. Business has, quite frankly, helped shape our policies. We're very close partners.

"Our task is to help make Dallas continue to grow and still be a good place to live in with a high quality of life. One strength DART has is that we are a total transportation company. We're not just a bus company or a train company or an HOV lane company. We're in business to move people. We deal a lot with city traffic engineers whose business is moving cars. We think we can balance that out a bit."

When will the Dallas system be complete?

"I don't know if we'll ever be finished, but for the next 20 years we'll be building toward a 95-mile light rail system and 110 miles of HOV lanes," says Snoble. "Trinity Express will, of course, go on to Fort Worth, and we're already working on plans for some other commuter rail lines more or less in the northern part of the metroplex.

"There really is no let-up in the need for mass transit tools like we offer, because the region will continue to grow and this is a way to help it grow in a sensible, sane way."

Does DART face any big problems-funding, for example?

"We've managed our funding very well," says Snoble. "One of the challenges is to keep everybody else's hands out of our pockets so we can concentrate on what we're supposed to be doing-providing transit services."

"A real challenge we have in front of us," he adds, "is that because of our success, the cities around us that are not members of DART are saying, 'There's more to this transit thing than we ever thought, and we want to come in as well.' But they want to come in on the cheap."

The expansion of services to cities that don't want to pay the price of admission could be a major future problem, says Snoble. DART simply doesn't do things on the cheap.