Express Bus to Alliance, DCTA Still Growing, & Fair Park Transit Plans

News & Updates

March 22, 2024 Issue

Car, Bike and Transit are in Plans to Link Downtown Dallas and Fair Park

dallasnews.com

Regional transportation planners are thinking through how to better link downtown Dallas to Fair Park through Deep Ellum, with the public’s help.

Draft concepts for road and intersection reconstruction, bike paths and public transit improvements were again shared with the public during the second in a series of public meetings Tuesday.

The proposal integrates city improvements with planned highway projects including changes to Interstate 30 and Interstate 345, according to the North Central Texas Council of Governments Regional Transportation Council.

“We want to create routes that have opportunities to meet all of the modes of transportation and create economic development for the community,” council director Michael Morris said.

Express Bus Route Between Southeast Fort Worth and Alliance Will Cater to Commuters

dallasnews.com

Weekday commuters traveling between Fort Worth and Alliance can skip rush hour traffic when a new expedited bus service goes into effect.

Known as the Alliance Express, the high-frequency bus route will offer guaranteed travel times between southeast Fort Worth, downtown and Alliance in north Fort Worth.

Electric charter buses with WiFi will depart every 15 minutes during peak morning and evening commute times and every 30 minutes in off-peak periods and on weekends. Buses will use Interstate 35 express lanes for travel.

New mobility centers in southeast Fort Worth and Alliance will offer first- and last-mile connections to the Trinity Metro Zipzone rideshare service and rides will be coordinated through a mobile app, with customers able to receive credit for late arrivals. The proposed route would begin at a mobility hub in southeast Fort Worth, have a midpoint at Central Station and end at a mobility hub in Alliance, tentatively at I-35 and Westport Parkway.

Fact Brief: Is Public Transportation Available to Reach AT&T Stadium in Arlington?

fortworthreport.org

No.

There is no direct public transportation to AT&T Stadium.

The U.S. Department of Transportation defines public transit as buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, trolleys and ferries.

Trinity Metro has no direct drop-off points near the stadium.

The Arlington Trolley, a free route-based system, offers free transportation to the stadium only on days when there is no scheduled event.

DCTA: GoZone Continues Setting Ridership Records; A-train Continues to Add Riders

crosstimbersgazzette.com

Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA) reports that its GoZone on-demand rideshare service delivered more than 75,000 trips in January, making it one of the busiest microtransit services of its kind in the nation. The service averages over 70,000 riders per month.

GoZone is also exceeding many other service goals, showing that DCTA continues to make positive impacts on the communities it serves.

“The community adoption of GoZone has exceeded expectations, and GoZone is performing extremely well overall,” said Paul Cristina, CEO of DCTA. “The GoZone system is surpassing its benchmarks in safety performance, ridership, seat availability, and wait times for pickups as well as for customer service calls. GoZone has become a model success story for services of its kind anywhere in the country.”

GoZone operating partner Via Transportation reports that GoZone is outperforming similar services in its systems across the nation, including Arlington, Fort Worth, Miami and Seattle, and the service is bringing transportation options to many residents in Denton County who need them.

North Texas Universities Participate in Urban Resilience Fellowship Program

communityimpact.com

A new program is seeking to put the minds of students at two North Texas universities to use in addressing critical challenges facing the region, according to a news release.

Nonprofit organization North Texas Innovation Alliance announced that students from The University of Texas at Arlington and The University of Texas at Dallas will participate in the pilot phase of the Urban Resilience Fellowship Program, which is aimed at addressing numerous issues from cybersecurity to climate change. Per the news release, the pilot program began this semester with students from both universities.

Undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students will be placed into multidisciplinary groups, which will work with community partners, including the North Central Texas Council of Governments and Southern Dallas County Inland Port Transportation Management Association, according to the news release. Students will also be paired with a faculty mentor that will help identify the problem of the community partner and advise on any challenges and solution implementation plans.

“Bringing this new program into our teaching and curriculum opens up an exciting avenue for ... students to apply their skills and knowledge to tackle real-world challenges through experiential learning, ultimately contributing to the betterment of our communities,” said Meghna Tare, chief sustainability officer at UT Arlington, in the release.

Transit Coalition of North Texas

TransitNorthTexas.org