Hello there,
Upcoming Events
We have four straight days of events this weekend! Here's what's going on in and around DATA
DATA February General Meeting**
We will be holding our General Meeting to discuss the recommendations provided to the DART Board regarding all of the city's recommendations, in particular to Plano.
We will also be holding a special election to fill the vacancy of our Event Planning Chair, we have three great candidates, check out and learn more about them here. The election will be held at 2:30pm.
Event Details
- Date and Time: Saturday, February 22 from 1:30PM to 3:30PM
- Location: J. Erik Jonsson Central Library at 1515 Young Street, Dallas
- Meeting Room: Hamon Training Room, 5th Floor
- Nearest Rail Station: Akard Station (Red, Orange, Blue, & Green)
- Disclosure: This event is not sponsored by the Dallas Public Library
- RSVP on the Action Network
DATA Book Club
We have a book club now! We will be reading Human Transit for the month of February. Stick around for a Mappy Hour, where we have a group of urbanists contributing to OpenStreetMap together
Event Details
- Date and Time: Sunday, February 23 from 1:00PM to 4:00PM
- Location: Dolce Paradisio at 5030 Addison Cir, Addison
- Nearest Transit Station: Addison Transit Center (22, 200, 202, 227 229, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 250)
- Follow us on GroupMe or Discord for more details
Plano City Council (For those who live or work in Plano)
Tell Plano City Council to tell the DART Board to implement the citywide GoLink without removing bus service. Plano can have their city wide and keep their buses too
Event Details (Digital Option)
Monday, February 24 from 7:00PM to 9:00PM The meeting starts at 7pm however public comments are taken via Zoom and after the end of the regular city council meeting This means you can expect your public comments to be taken at around 9pm to 10pm, dependent on the agenda for the city council that day.
DART Board Meeting (For ALL Members)
We will be showing up to the DART Board meeting to tell the DART Board to implement the citywide GoLink without removing bus service. Plano can have their city wide and keep their buses too.
Event Details
- Tuesday, February 25 from 5:45PM to 10:00PM
- DART Headquarters at 1401 Pacific Ave, Dallas
- Nearest Rail Station: Akard Station (Red, Orange, Blue, & Green)
- RSVP on the Action Network
Plano's Bus Service is Under Attack
Background: Plano requested a citywide GoLink zone and proposed removing bus routes so resources used on fixed routes could be allocated to GoLink instead.
DART Analysis: Staff analyzed the request without endorsing or opposing it, focusing solely on logistics. There are really two main ways they can go about this:
Establish a city wide GoLink zone without removing any bus routes
- Estimated Cost: $4.5M-$10.8M per year (cost is dependent on how many riders switch from buses to GoLink, most won't)
Remove the Plano portions of Routes 236 and 247, and completely replace the 254 and 234 with city wide GoLink
- Leaves Plano with only 3 bus routes
- Routes 308, 241, and 239 would remain untouched
- Estimated cost: $11M-$13.1M, including a $5.1M in savings from route removals
Our thoughts: While it seems counterintuitive, removing the Plano bus routes is the most difficult and expensive option for DART. This is because every trip being made on the routes 236, 234, 254, and 247 in Plano would need to be made on GoLink instead, which is far less efficient.
Actions: Tell Plano City Council and the DART board to implement the citywide GoLink without removing bus service. Plano can have their city wide and keep their buses too. Truly, the best of both worlds option.
In summary, keeping the Plano bus routes is better, cheaper, and more efficient.
Remembering Mary
Last Sunday, DATA held a memorial ride in honor of the passing of our Event Planning Chair, Mary Collier. Mary was a fierce warrior for public transportation while also planning so many social gatherings that brought this community together. Many of the events planned by DATA were planned by her. Many DATA members and members of other organizations across the Dallas Urbanist community joined us on a memorial ride to Mary's workplace.
- Enrique MacGregor, DART Board of Director gave a wonderful tribute at the DART Committee of the Whole Meeting on February 11. As did Hexel Colorado, founder of Dallas Urbanists at the Transit Tangents podcast recording. Our executive committee also made a post on our website of all the accomplishments Mary has done for DATA, DART, and Dallas a a whole.
#iheartDART
Do you love DART? Do you want to show that you love DART? We are running a petition the Texas legislature as follows: To oppose any proposed legislation that would cap or reduce DART’s sales tax revenue & to promote access to public transportation across the state through funding, infrastructure improvements, and advocacy.
Transit Tangents Podcast
We held a podcast earlier in the month regarding Transit in Texas Communities but namely Dallas. Check out the recording below. An updated recording and a future Transit Tangents podcast will be coming in the future.
Watch the Podcast (DATA Version)
This is a copy of the email sent to our subscribers, some information may have been updated or is outdated since the email has been sent. Please check the DATA website, social media, and chatrooms for updated information.
To get the latest updates and news, follow DATA's social media listed at https://dallasareatransitalliance.org/contact.