Copyright CBS News
By the end of this week, as many as four North Texas cities could be on their way to withdrawing from decades of bus and rail service provided by Dallas Area Rapid Transit. Highland Park's leaders have already called for an election among its residents next year, with Farmers Branch deciding Tuesday night and Plano and Irving doing the same over the next two days about their futures with DART. Michael Hernandez waits for a bus in East Plano to take him back home to Oak Cliff in Dallas. "I come out here once or twice a week," said Hernandez. Hernandez says he has no other means to travel and relies on DART buses and trains to get around. But the City of Plano says there aren't enough people like Hernandez using the service that's been available for 41 years. The end of bus and light rail stops in Plano could be near if the city council approves an election on Wednesday to decide on whether to withdraw as one of DART's 13 remaining member cities. Plano's concerns are similar to Highland Park's, where on Monday night, town leaders scheduled an election. Farmers Branch and Irving also have city council meetings this week to possibly do the same. Irving's mayor, Rick Stopfer, says "...only 1% of residents use DART or TRE (Trinity Railway Express) service daily while investing more than $115 million annually into the system." Plano city leaders said, "DART spent $304.1 million on bus service with only $11.5 million spent in Plano. Of the bus stops in the DART system, only 4.11% are in Plano." DART's CEO, Nadine Lee, tried to defend that math last week during a news conference. "A lot of people would want sort of a dollar in and a dollar out," said Lee. "With us, just not the way things work." Plano also questions why DART awarded more than $800,000 in executive bonuses last year. Last week, Randall Bryant, the chairman of DART's board, would only say this when asked about it last week. "So those bonuses, and all of our pays, were reviewed, or they potentially have the potential to be reviewed by the city of Plano and all of our cities," said Randall Bryant, the Chairman of the Board of Directors for DART. "I think there's a gap between the public perception of how things stand with DART." Ross Hunt says his research consulting firm conducted a study of Farmers Branch and Plano residents, finding that 60% say they should not withdraw. "So, by an almost 3 to 1 margin, and the voters in the cities want their cities to remain inside DART," said Hunt. The four cities making decisions this week say they will immediately explore other mass transit options if voters choose to take a pass on DART's rides.
