InmotionTHE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF DALLAS AREA RAPID TRANSIT

WINTER 2020

Continued on Page 28

Forward Focused

DART is a national leader in developing and testing new transportation ideas that emerge from rapidly changing technology and the private sector. Integrating new approaches into our system allows DART to leverage the strengths

Projects and studies look to the road ahead

of these mobility options, complement our core services, and give choices to our customers. This approach will help DART navigate the future and ensure that the agency continues to meet the needs of its customers across the region.

DART bus riders in August experienced the most significant bus service change in nearly a decade, the first step toward the DARTzoom Bus Network Redesign, the agency’s initiative to improve the bus rider experience.

Many customers now enjoy better frequency, more direct routes, expanded weekday and weekend service hours, and schedule adjustments to improve on-time performance and transfers. Early indicators suggest that weekday and weekend ridership is increasing on many of the adjusted routes.

For example, Route 409 was divided into two routes: 409 and 426. The new Route 409 became a core route with higher frequency and expanded hours. Early results indicate that ridership should increase at least 15% from the 409/426 change.

This January, the agency executed a small service change focused on schedule adjustments and issues that arose from the August 2019 changes. DART anticipates two more service changes this year in June and September.

New plan will address ridership and coverage goalsThese changes are just the beginning. DART hired Jarrett Walker + Associates (JWA), a leading transit planning and policy consulting firm, in September to reenvision the agency’s bus network. The DARTzoom Bus Network Redesign will lead to the DARTzoom Bus Service Plan. The goal is to create a plan that guides the agency decades into the future.

“A new plan is important because while population and jobs within the DART Service Area continue to grow, there have been significant demographic and employment shifts in the region that have impacted the effectiveness of the bus system,” said Todd Plesko, DART’s vice president of service planning and development. “A complete redesign lets

2

us determine the most effective network for today that serves how people use transit now.”

JWA will build on the findings of the Comprehensive Operations Analysis conducted in 2014-2015 and will design bus network options that best balance ridership and coverage priorities with limited resources. The consultants also will recommend additional bus service if the agency’s finances improve beyond what is predicted in the 20-year financial plan.

The planning process will include a robust outreach effort to riders, stakeholders, elected officials and bus operations staff. JWA is tasked with both collecting input on where people believe bus service should go and with educating these key audiences on the ridership-coverage trade-offs.

“The new DARTzoom Bus Service Plan will outline our vision for what we would like our bus network to ultimately be, including the capital investments needed to make it fully work, which may require additional funding in the future,” Plesko said.

DART staff also are updating the Transit System Plan, the agency’s long-range plan for future capital and operating programs, which will incorporate the new DARTzoom Bus Service Plan. Upon approval of the Transit System Plan by the DART Board, the agency estimates it will implement the first phase of recommendations with a major bus service change in January 2022.

The DARTzoom Bus Network Redesign will include new developments – like the Trinity Groves area in West Dallas – that have emerged since DART’s bus system was first designed in the 1980s.

Forward Focused 8 Continued from Page 1

DARTzoomSM Bus Network Redesign will prepare forregion’s future growth

3

Partnership Explores the Feasibility of Self-Driving Buses

Would you ride a transit bus that could drive itself? DART may ask its customers that question in a few years.

Automated vehicles – which have self-driving features but still have a driver – are a proven technology with small shuttles. Now, the public transportation industry is asking whether automation makes sense for a full-size, full-speed transit bus.

DART has partnered with AECOM, a large, progressive consulting firm with experience in the connected and automated vehicles sector, and 12 other transit and transportation agencies to form the Automated Bus Consortium (ABC). The other agencies in the consortium are some of the largest and most innovative in the industry, like DART. Together, they hope to accelerate development of automated transit bus technology by combining resources and creating a ready market for its use.

“By working together, we can reduce the planning and procurement costs and more easily share lessons learned,” said Darryl Spencer, DART’s senior assistant vice president of engineering.

Each participating agency contributed $100,000 to join the consortium for Phase 1 of the program, which includes identifying pilot routes, developing bus specifications, completing the risk assessment, determining feasibility and

obtaining a go/no-go decision from each agency. DART funded its portion with a Regional Toll Revenue grant from the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

In Phase 2 of the ABC program, the consortium’s members have set a target for a joint procurement of 75 to 100 buses, which makes vehicle development more viable for one or more manufacturers. Pilot projects at the agencies would test the automated vehicles in a variety of geographies and conditions to better understand their application nationwide.

DART selected the Love Link route as its potential pilot project. The route is only four miles round trip, operates on relatively straight roads, and anchors at Inwood/Love Field Station, where an electric vehicle charger could be installed. A human operator would drive the bus safely through segments of the route that are not yet conducive for automation, such as an unprotected left turn.

Depiction of a full-sized, full-speed automated bus in a live service environment.

The consortium’s plan calls for a 12-month feasibility study (Phase 1), with the goal to implement pilot projects with automated buses within a two-year time frame (Phase 2), currently estimated to begin by 2022-2023. Each agency will make its own decisions regarding bus purchases and deployment following the completion of the feasibility phase.

If DART moves forward with the Automated Bus Consortium into Phase 2, the 12-to-18-month testing/evaluation period would include the public acceptance campaign, bus operator involvement, infrastructure planning and securing additional funding.

“We have committed to participate in researching automated bus technology under Phase 1, and DART participation under the Phase 2 pilot evaluation (up to 4 buses) will proceed upon approval by the DART Board,” Spencer said.

Automated Bus Consortium aims to accelerate technology development

8Learn more:

AutomatedBusConsortium.com

Ren

derin

g co

urte

sy o

f AE

CO

M.

4

Farmers Branch soon will celebrate the opening of The Shops at Mustang Station, the first new retail development near the city’s namesake DART Rail station on the Green Line.

Developed by Canada-based Western Securities and leased by Dallas-based SHOP Companies, The Shops at Mustang Station will offer 40,000 square feet of food, beverage and retail space. The shopping and restaurant village is already pre-leased to the 10,000-square-foot Cox Farms Market and the 8,000-square-foot Cedar Creek Brewhouse & Eatery.

Along with Cox Farms Market and Cedar Creek, four more restaurants are set to open in early 2020:

• Red Stix, an Asian street food concept developed by Uno Immanivong, an alumna of ABC’s The Taste.

• Victoria’s Mexican Kitchen, a Farmers Branch favorite formerly known as The Victoria Restaurant.

• Roots Southern Table, whose chef, Tiffany Derry, competed on Bravo’s Top Chef.

• Starwood Café, specializing in serving breakfast and lunch.

The city formed a public-private partnership with Western Securities, a real estate holding, management and development company, to create the

Mustang Crossing development at the corner of Valley View Lane and Bee Street.

The master-planned district includes Phases I and II of the contemporary Mustang Station Apartments, featuring 256 units and 188 units, respectively.

“Mustang Station Apartments and The Shops at Mustang Station are considered one of Western Securities’ flagship investments. We have been honored to build a strong and long-lasting relationship with the city of Farmers Branch and DART,” said Kelly R. O’Connor, principal at Western Securities. “Our location makes it the perfect spot for our residents to leave their car at home and jump on DART Rail to take them anywhere they need to go, whether that be to work during the week or to dinner and a hockey game on the weekends. Western Securities is happy to have been part of the city’s innovative growth over the past few years and we are excited for the dynamic future that is coming to Farmers Branch.”

The city invested infrastructure into the Grove at Mustang Crossing, an outdoor entertainment venue covered by a canopy of post oak trees near the DART station. Featuring concerts and farmers market days, the Grove includes a stage, bathrooms, picnic tables and enhanced paths for food trucks. Seasonal events activate the Grove during Christmas and other holidays.

“The Green Line has been the catalyst we needed to attract an infusion of quality development into the oldest area of the city and establish a vibrant new town center,” said Allison Cook, Farmers Branch’s director of economic development and tourism.

Art department faculty from Brookhaven College, which is in Farmers Branch, are working on a sculpture to be featured in the median along Bee Street. An outdoor fountain and seating area will be integrated into the public areas outside the restaurant spaces.

The Shops at Mustang Station, located next to DART’s Farmers Branch Station, is scheduled to open in early 2020 and will add the Cox Farms Market grocery store and several restaurants to the growing Mustang Crossing neighborhood.

Retail-Restaurant Park Coming to Farmers BranchThe Shops at Mustang Station will add food options to station area

The Silver Line Regional Rail, a 26-mile route that extends between Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Shiloh Road in Plano along the historic Cotton Belt corridor, will open with service to 10 rail stations in less than three years.

Part of the construction process involves determining the appearance of those stations so that they reflect the neighborhood or district in which they exist. Known as the DART Station Art & Design Program, this practice began in 1987 with the light rail starter system. The program’s goal is to ensure that each rail station represents and serves as a gateway to the nearby community.

DART works with the host city to appoint a site-specific advisory committee comprised of representatives from surrounding neighborhoods, businesses and institutions for each station. The committee gives input through a five-workshop process to the design team – comprised of a station artist, architects, landscape designers and engineers – on elements that DART varies at each station.

The station artist advises the committee members to help refine their ideas, which can consist of a mixture of enhanced station finishes and site-specific commissioned art. Platform surfaces, column cladding finishes, site elements and landscaping can all be customized.

For example, DFW Airport North Station – located in Grapevine – will have columns clad with castings of grapevines with purple and orange accents. Windscreens will display woven metal art panels and paving will include mosaic medallions representing different modes of transportation serving the area.

8 Learn more:

DART.org/PublicArt

Silver Line Stations Design Begins

DART bus riders in August experienced the most significant bus service change in nearly a decade, the first step toward the DARTzoom Bus Network Redesign, the agency’s initiative to improve the bus rider experience.

Many customers now enjoy better frequency, more direct routes, expanded weekday and weekend service hours, and schedule adjustments to improve on-time performance and transfers. Early indicators suggest that weekday and weekend ridership is increasing on many of the adjusted routes.

For example, Route 409 was divided into two routes: 409 and 426. The new Route 409 became a core route with higher frequency and expanded hours. Early results indicate that ridership should increase at least 15% from the 409/426 change.

DART Current and Future Rail ServicesThis January, the agency executed a small service change focused on schedule adjustments and issues that arose from the August 2019 changes. DART anticipates two more service changes this year in June and September.

New plan will address ridership and coverage goalsThese changes are just the beginning. DART hired Jarrett Walker + Associates (JWA), a leading transit planning and policy consulting firm, in September to reenvision the agency’s bus network. The DARTzoom Bus Network Redesign will lead to the DARTzoom Bus Service Plan. The goal is to create a plan that guides the agency decades into the future.

“A new plan is important because while population and jobs within the DART Service Area continue to grow, there have been significant demographic and employment shifts in the region that have impacted the effectiveness of the bus system,” said Todd Plesko, DART’s vice president of service planning and development. “A complete redesign lets

2 4 5

us determine the most effective network for today that serves how people use transit now.”

JWA will build on the findings of the Comprehensive Operations Analysis conducted in 2014-2015 and will design bus network options that best balance ridership and coverage priorities with limited resources. The consultants also will recommend additional bus service if the agency’s finances improve beyond what is predicted in the 20-year financial plan.

The planning process will include a robust outreach effort to riders, stakeholders, elected officials and bus operations staff. JWA is tasked with both collecting input on where people believe bus service should go and with educating these key audiences on the ridership-coverage trade-offs.

“The new DARTzoom Bus Service Plan will outline our vision for what we would like our bus network to ultimately be, including the capital investments needed to make it fully work, which may require additional funding in the future,” Plesko said.

DART staff also are updating the Transit System Plan, the agency’s long-range plan for future capital and operating programs, which will incorporate the new DARTzoom Bus Service Plan. Upon approval of the Transit System Plan by the DART Board, the agency estimates it will implement the first phase of recommendations with a major bus service change in January 2022.

The DARTzoom Bus Network Redesign will include new developments – like the Trinity Groves area in West Dallas – that have emerged since DART’s bus system was first designed in the 1980s.

Farmers Branch soon will celebrate the opening of The Shops at Mustang Station, the first new retail development near the city’s namesake DART Rail station on the Green Line.

Developed by Canada-based Western Securities and leased by Dallas-based SHOP Companies, The Shops at Mustang Station will offer 40,000 square feet of food, beverage and retail space. The shopping and restaurant village is already pre-leased to the 10,000-square-foot Cox Farms Market and the 8,000-square-foot Cedar Creek Brewhouse & Eatery.

Along with Cox Farms Market and Cedar Creek, four more restaurants are set to open in early 2020:

• Red Stix, an Asian street food concept developed by Uno Immanivong, an alumna of ABC’s The Taste.

• Victoria’s Mexican Kitchen, a Farmers Branch favorite formerly known as The Victoria Restaurant.

• Roots Southern Table, whose chef, Tiffany Derry, competed on Bravo’s Top Chef.

• Starwood Café, specializing in serving breakfast and lunch.

The city formed a public-private partnership with Western Securities, a real estate holding, management and development company, to create the

Mustang Crossing development at the corner of Valley View Lane and Bee Street.

The master-planned district includes Phases I and II of the contemporary Mustang Station Apartments, featuring 256 units and 188 units, respectively.

“Mustang Station Apartments and The Shops at Mustang Station are considered one of Western Securities’ flagship investments. We have been honored to build a strong and long-lasting relationship with the city of Farmers Branch and DART,” said Kelly R. O’Connor, principal at Western Securities. “Our location makes it the perfect spot for our residents to leave their car at home and jump on DART Rail to take them anywhere they need to go, whether that be to work during the week or to dinner and a hockey game on the weekends. Western Securities is happy to have been part of the city’s innovative growth over the past few years and we are excited for the dynamic future that is coming to Farmers Branch.”

The city invested infrastructure into the Grove at Mustang Crossing, an outdoor entertainment venue covered by a canopy of post oak trees near the DART station. Featuring concerts and farmers market days, the Grove includes a stage, bathrooms, picnic tables and enhanced paths for food trucks. Seasonal events activate the Grove during Christmas and other holidays.

“The Green Line has been the catalyst we needed to attract an infusion of quality development into the oldest area of the city and establish a vibrant new town center,” said Allison Cook, Farmers Branch’s director of economic development and tourism.

Art department faculty from Brookhaven College, which is in Farmers Branch, are working on a sculpture to be featured in the median along Bee Street. An outdoor fountain and seating area will be integrated into the public areas outside the restaurant spaces.

The Shops at Mustang Station, located next to DART’s Farmers Branch Station, is scheduled to open in early 2020 and will add the Cox Farms Market grocery store and several restaurants to the growing Mustang Crossing neighborhood.

White RockLake

Tr ini ty River

Lake RayHubbard

LOVE FIELDVIA BUS 524

DFW

GARLAND

ROWLETT

PLANO

RICHARDSON

IRVING

FARMERSBRANCH

ADDISONCARROLLTON

UNIVERSITYPARK

COCKRELL HILL

GLENN HEIGHTS

HIGHLANDPARK

DALLASMESQUITE

CYPRESS WATERS(DALLAS)

UT DALLAS

KNOLL TRAIL

UNT DALLAS

CAMP WISDOM

DFWAIRPORTNORTH

ROYAL LANE

WALNUT HILL/DENTON

TRINITY MILLS

FARMERS BRANCH

DOWNTOWN CARROLLTON

BACHMAN

BURBANK

SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL DISTRICT/ PARKLAND

MARKET CENTER

INWOOD/LOVE FIELD

NORTH CARROLLTON/FRANKFORD

CENTREPORT/DFW AIRPORT

WEST IRVING DOWNTOWN IRVING/HERITAGE CROSSING

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON UNION STATION

CEDARSCONVENTION CENTER

8TH & CORINTH

MORRELL

PEARL/ARTS DISTRICT

ST. PAUL

AKARD

WEST END

ILLINOIS

KIEST

VA MEDICAL CENTER

LEDBETTER

DALLAS ZOOTYLER/VERNON

HAMPTON

VICTORY

MEDICAL/MARKET CENTER

WHITE ROCK

LAKE HIGHLANDS

PARK LANE

WALNUTHILL

FOREST LANE

SPRING VALLEY

ARAPAHO CENTER

GALATYN PARK

CITYLINE/BUSH

DOWNTOWN PLANO

LOVERSLANE

LBJ/SKILLMAN

FOREST/JUPITER

DOWNTOWNGARLAND

DOWNTOWNROWLETT

CITYPLACE/UPTOWN

SMU/MOCKINGBIRD

WESTMORELAND

PARKER ROAD

UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS

LAS COLINASURBAN CENTER

NORTH LAKECOLLEGE

BELT LINE

DFWAIRPORT

IRVING CONVENTION CENTER

LBJ/CENTRAL

HATCHER

LAWNVIEW

LAKE JUNE

BUCKNER

DEEP ELLUMBAYLOR UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

FAIR PARKMLK, JR.

To Fort Worth

To Denton

Terminal ATerminal B

SHILOHROAD12TH STREET

(future)

DFWAIRPORT

HIDDENRIDGE(future)

LOOP 12(future)

To Fort Worth

Da

llas

No

rth T

ollw

ay

President Geo rg e Bush Turnpike

RED BIRDTRANSIT CTR.

GLENN HEIGHTS PARK & RIDE

ADDISONTRANSIT CTR.

JACK HATCHELLTRANSIT CTR.

NW PLANOPARK & RIDE

S. GARLANDTRANSIT CTR.

LAKE RAYHUBBARD

TRANSIT CTR.

Forward Focused 8 Continued from Page 1

DARTzoomSM Bus Network Redesign will prepare forregion’s future growth

Retail-Restaurant Park Coming to Farmers BranchThe Shops at Mustang Station will add food options to station area

M-Line Trolleyto CityPlace/Uptown Station

M-Line Trolleyto CityPlace/Uptown Station

East TransferCenter

WestTransferCenter

WestTransferCenter

Rosa ParksPlazaRosa ParksPlaza

MAINELM

PACIFIC

GASTON

COMMERCECOMMERCE

JACKSON

WOOD

YOUNG

CANTON

MARILLA

WOODALL R

ODGERS F

WY

CONTINENTAL

W. COMMERCE

HOUSTON

MARKET

LAMAR

LAMAR

GRIFFIN

AKARD

ERVAYST. PAUL

ST. PAUL

ERVAY

HARWOOD

MCK

INNE

Y

CEDA

R SP

RING

S

HARWOOD

PEARLOLIVE

FIELD

FIELD

ROSS

FEDER

AL

LIVE O

AK

LIVE O

AK

GOOD LATIMER

GOOD LATIMER

ROUTH

GOOD LATIMER

VICTORY

CESAR CHAVEZ BLVD.

Convention Center Station

Victory Station

AkardStation St. Paul

Station

Pearl/ArtsDistrictStation

DeepEllum

Station

West EndStation

NORTH

EBJ UnionStation

BELL

RICHLAND HILLS

FORT WORTH CENTRAL STATIONFORT WORTH T&P STATION

FORT WORTH

TRE and TEXRail to Fort Worth

Map Legend

Future Services

Downtown Dallas

Blue Line

Red Line

Green Line

Orange Line

Orange LineWeekdays Peak Only

Trinity Railway Express(No Sunday Service)

TEXRail (Trinity Metro)

A-Train (DCTA)

M-Line Trolley

Dallas Streetcar

Transit Center or Park & Ride

Silver Line (2022)

PLANNING/DESIGN UNDERWAY

DESIGN/CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY

Inset Map

D2 Subway (Inset Map)

6

DALLAS AREA RAPID TRANSIT MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS P.O. BOX 660163 DALLAS, TX 75266-7203

TWO GREAT WAYS TO PAY & SAVE!

TAPCARD

MOBILEAPP

Nevin Grinnell Vice President Chief Marketing Officer

Linda Webb-Mañon Senior Manager External Communications

Jessica Jones Senior Manager Creative Services

Denise Johnson Manager Customer Information/Production

Christine Wilson Senior Graphic Designer

Karen Ptacek Communications Representative

Lupe Hernandez Reginald Loftin Photographers

CONNECT WITH DART

Customer Information (routes & schedules) 214-979-1111

To subscribe or update your subscription:

Online: www.DART.org/publications

Phone: 214-749-3249

Mail: Inmotion - Marketing Department Dallas Area Rapid Transit P.O. Box 660163 Dallas, TX 75266-7203

PUBLISHED JANUARY 2020

InmotionTHE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF DALLAS AREA RAPID TRANSIT

Paul N. Wageman – Plano Chair

Michele Wong Krause – Dallas Vice Chair

Jonathan R. Kelly – Garland Secretary

Ray Jackson – Dallas Assistant Secretary

Sue S. Bauman – Dallas

Mark Enoch – Garland, Rowlett, Glenn Heights

Doug Hrbacek – Carrollton, Irving

Patrick J. Kennedy – Dallas

Jon-Bertrell Killen – Dallas

Amanda Moreno – Dallas

Eliseo Ruiz III – Dallas, Cockrell Hill

Gary Slagel – Richardson, University Park, Addison, Highland Park

Lissa Smith – Plano, Farmers Branch

Rick Stopfer – Irving

Dominique P. Torres – Dallas

DART Board of Directors3 Nations Brewing now in Downtown CarrolltonLocated in the shadow of the Green Line, 3 Nations Brewing has brought new life to an old industrial shed in Historic Downtown Carrollton. The brewery sought a larger space where it could upgrade its taproom and add private event space. According to Sunnye Childers, 3 Nations Brewing Co.’s director of fun, the new site’s proximity to the DART station was part of the appeal of downtown Carrollton.

132-002-1120 CW