Transportation
One Metro, Three Vastly Different Approaches to Public Transit
What three cities in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area can teach us about the outcomes of transit access and coverage.
The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area is home to nearly 6.4 million residents, the fourth largest metro area in the country. But what makes the Metroplex especially interesting is the disparate ways its three principal cities handle transit.
Dallas, the nation’s ninth largest city, operates the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority (DART). DART levies a 1 percent sales tax in 13 member cities across four counties to operate five rail lines and around 140 bus lines. Those communities approved the tax via referendum - an example of metros practicing transportation self-help - and created the country’s largest light rail network.