Some Dallas leaders are already pushing for a new plan after the Dallas Regional Rapid Transit Authority (DART) announced that its long-planned downtown subway would be off the drawing board for the time being.
DART has removed the so-called “D-2” second downtown rail line from the agency's 20-year financial plan.
A much cheaper option, discussed in the past, could be a streetcar that runs through the downtown area.
The streetcar serves Oak Cliff and the Bishop Arts Area, crossing the Trinity River to the edge of downtown.
“I think it's really important to actually make public transportation more accessible,” said transit rider Lauren Corben.
The McKinney Avenue Trolley serves Uptown Dallas, but stops at the north end of downtown.
“We want to tie that in with the Bishop Arts trolley that goes through downtown. And in many ways, putting D-2 on the back burner starts this conversation,” said Downtown Dallas CEO Jennifer S. Cripps said.
Scripps said downtown business groups are already working to advance the streetcar plan.
Dallas currently has only one subway station, located below the City Place building on the Central Expressway.
Subway D-2 was a $1.7 billion plan to dig another tunnel beneath downtown and bring several stations above ground.
This was based on much higher ridership numbers prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“And now we're about 68% to 70% of that ridership back. What's the best use for these funds?” said DART spokesperson Gordon Shuttles.
Some of the savings will go toward increasing security with more DART police officers and 100 new blueshirt guards.
“I think that's a plus because there's a lot of illicit activity on the train that shouldn't be on the train. So I feel like it's going to help us,” said DART rider Tamikia Thompson.
The agency is also increasing spending to improve the cleanliness of buses and trains.
“We have cleaners in the central business district who join trains as they get on and off and clean throughout the day. This means it's not just the beginning and end that's being cleaned, they're also being cleaned in between. ,” Shuttles said.
Thompson said this also needs improvement.
“I think this is a good thing for DART. People just ride the trains because no one wants to ride a dirty train with a lot of trash,” she said.
The old Red and Blue Line station platforms have also been expanded to accommodate longer trains with more cars. This will further increase the capacity of all trains passing through the existing single-way downtown when passenger demand returns.
Scripps said DART leaders gave a presentation about the changes to leaders of downtown business groups this week.
“They seem to be taking a very pragmatic approach as ridership recovers post-pandemic. And this plan for D-2 is not the best use of resources at this point. There is no going back. That’s not the case,” Scripps said.
The existing Oak Cliff streetcar is a significantly reduced segment from the plan proposed several years ago.
At one point, both an above-ground streetcar and an underground subway were envisioned as downtown corridors.
The streetcar corridor could be designed to serve the planned new Dallas Convention Center and high-speed rail station.
High-speed rail consideration began again last week, when the government-backed Amtrak announced it had partnered with private high-speed rail developer Texas Central on a planned route from downtown Dallas to Houston.
Scripps said the experience of streetcars in other cities is exciting for businessmen in downtown Dallas.
“The streetcars have proven to be a great generator of activity on the streets. They provide retail opportunities and are great for tourism. So these are all things that downtowns want to see. That's what I'm thinking. It could be something really comfortable,” Scripps said.
Lauren Corben said having more public transport options would be good for other passengers.
“Get people out of their cars. I think that's really good for our city,” Corben said.
DART continues to build the Silver Line rail connection between Plano and DFW Airport, something some North Dallas residents tried to block.
