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As summer approaches, it brings with it rising gas prices for drivers in anticipation of the vacation travel season and an increase in allergic reactions and respiratory illnesses for everyone due to poor air quality. Luckily, we in Dallas have ways to fight back against these hazards. Using the transit system year-round is part of the cure for these summertime blues. Plus, transit has the added benefits of improving our economy and overall quality of life.
Nearly 25 years ago, business, community and political leaders from across North Texas agreed to tax themselves to help pay for a regional transportation authority, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), that would cut across city and county lines and unite our neighborhoods with buses and trains and carpool lanes. Today we can measure the success our region has achieved in transit through the development of 45 miles of light rail, 35 miles of commuter rail, and 31 miles of HOV lanes.
So, what does transit bring to a region like ours? Each weekday in North Texas, people take more than 300,000 trips on DART’s buses, trains, and high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes. Every single trip helps improve air quality, promote economic development, mitigate congestion, and improve our quality of life.
Air Quality
Dallas – Fort Worth’s designation as a serious non-attainment area for ozone has significant implications for our community. It could lead to loss of federal highway funds, severely impact economic development and commerce, and further damage the quality of life and health of our citizens. Vehicle pollution is a major contributor to the formation of ozone in the region, and one solution to year round air pollution is transit.
According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), public transportation produces 95 percent less carbon monoxide (CO), 90 percent less in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and about half as much carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx), per passenger mile, as private vehicles. In North Texas, DART buses, light rail lines, and high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes keep vehicles off the road and help reduce pollution. DART HOV lanes reduce pollution by 370 pounds per weekday, and DART is continuing to reduce its bus emissions every year, with a target of operating a near zero emissions bus by 2010. DART’s light rail reduces the use of highways, decreasing traffic congestion and promoting greater air quality. Clearly, transit reduces pollution and promotes cleaner air.
Economic Development
Transit is a boon for economic development as well. For every $1 invested in pubic transportation projects, $4 to $9 is generated in local economic activity, and North Texas is no exception. More than $3 billion has been invested to build new communities along the existing 45-mile DART rail line. People residing in and visiting those developments are enjoying traveling on rail and not having to rely on a car and congested roadways. Not only are they saving money by using DART, they’re creating capacity on our over-burdened highways and helping reduce the number of cars generating pollution.
Improving mobility
The Census Bureau reports our region is now the nation’s fourth largest metropolitan area, and we’re on track to double our population – to nine million – by 2030. By then, traffic congestion will slash our average freeway speeds to 27 miles per hour and we’ll spend more than five million hours a year in traffic. We’re already spending one million hours a year in traffic now.
Fortunately, our region possesses a nationally recognized transit network with more services on the way. In addition to doubling DART Rail via the Green Line with connections to Fair Park, South Dallas, Pleasant Grove, Northwest Dallas, Farmers Branch, Carrollton, and the Orange Line to Irving and DFW Airport in the next six years, we’ll see a new fleet of near-zero emissions buses serving more new bus passenger facilities and a doubling of the HOV lane network to encourage ridesharing.
Next challenges
Our region has set the standard for transportation excellence by investing in mobility options that unite diverse communities, create exciting new transit-oriented developments, and lay the foundation for the future. Last summer, the Federal Transit Administration awarded DART a $700 million grant agreement toward the initial phase of DART’s Green Line – the second largest award of its kind in the country. Motivated by DART’s success, more area cities should join existing authorities to expand transit services throughout North Texas. It is that continued spirit of partnership, regional thinking, and vision that puts more money in our pockets, clears the air we breathe and allows for increased opportunity and a richer quality of life.
U.S. Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson is the highest-ranking Texan on the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure. She represents the 30th Congressional District, which includes downtown Dallas, Northeast, East Oak Cliff & Pleasant Grove; all of Balch Springs, De Soto, Lancaster & Hutchins and parts of Cedar Hill, Duncanville, Glen Heights, Wilmer and Ovilla.
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