swag

http://transportationblog.dallasnews...w-aug-18.html/

longhorn11

I'm still of the opinion we have a subpar public transportation system until some east-west lines (other than from downtown) are established. If I live in Plano and have to take a 30 min train downtown and another 45 min train to DFW, that's still ridiculous.

I remember them planning a Plano-Addison-I35 line, but I don't think anything has been set in stone. It's better than nothing though.

swag

I agree. They seem to feel it's something that international travelers expect, yet by building the station at terminal A instead of D, they ensure anyone arriving internationally will have to ride that horrid Terminal Link bus just to get to the train.

The Cotton Belt line. There's no funding and lots of NIMBY neighborhood opposition. It's still in DART's long term plan, I think, but won't be built anytime soon.

longhorn11

That's it, the Cotton Belt Line. Honestly though, if they were that concerned with public transportation, a new line between the Red and Green would've worked wonders. Instead of putting 6 new toll lanes on LBJ (plus the 10 non tolled lanes), put a light rail line between 35 and 75. I'm sure the cost would kill it, but something has to give eventually.

james318

It's all well and good for Dallas, but I wish Tarrant county was involved. I realize there are some things in the works, but extending a line from DFW to Grapevine, Southlake, Roanoke, Keller would be awesome.

saltytheseagull

I agree with the sentiment that public transit is horrid here. People refuse to give up their cars. Until they do so the system will continue to be subpar. In addition, why is the new line not an express train to either Victory or the West End with all the service redundancies? It would at least trim down the commute time a little.

EmailKid

In all honesty, as expensive as it is, we should be glad it's done at all.

With the low frequency, you cannot expect to add a nonstop connection, it would be cost prohibitive. Moreover, the way the track was built, the train travels at snails pace between Northlake station and Bachman Lake station, so it would still not be very fast

And if Orange Line is anything like Bus 524 to Love Field, it will serve mostly TSA employees @:-)

And there is no need to take the horrid "bus" shuttle, Skylink will get you to Term A - I do it all the time from Term E if I arrive early enough to catch light bus 500 and light rail @:-)

swag

Except passengers arriving on international flights will clear customs at terminal D and end up landside, with no boarding pass to get back through security to get to the Skylink.

longhorn11

I thought about skylink but your reasoning came to me shortly after, it's quite unfortunate for those pax.

EmailKid

That is indeed unfortunate.

Despite recent horrendous UA devaluation, it's still my proffered carrier, so I can hop on in E and zip on over to A. But looking out the #500 bus it still looks like a bit of a shlep to Orange Line from Term A, so if the Terminal Link bus stops there, it may be (well sorta, kinda) a wash.

MrMan

Express won't work as there is not a seperate express track. In addition the Orange and Green lines share the same track. I can walk to the Inwood/Love Field Station from my house so may give it a whirl. The biggest mistake IMHO is not running the Green/Orange line through the Love Field terminal. The Inwood/Love Field station and then the bus makes it too hokey to use instead of a car.

longhorn11

Agree 100% that this was a total miss.

EmailKid

That's all fine and dandy, but about time they were looking at that and other options it became just too expensive, not to mention that in happened during the great Recession which didn't help.

The "bus" is actually OK, though I would not want to ride it much further as it's not very comfortable - OK, it's uncomfortable.

What has been renamed and is now Burbank Station still has "Future Love Field Station" written somewhere on the signage, and the individual theme for station has little planes as part of metal mesh that surrounds columns. And I've seen SWA employees get on and of at this station, though not often.

Me? I don't see the tunnel with people mover happening as most of the riders to DAL are TSA employees, at least the times when I was on the bus. What they should have done is made the station at Mockingbird, as Parkland and Inwood are too close anyway, and run shuttle from there @:-)

Alas, this is Dallas and DART, and in famous words I've heard, DART is not in the transportation business, but taxation business. Their loathing of public input speaks for itself. And yes, I'm actually a supporter of public transport.

Non-NonRev

DFW tweeted this link to the DART to DFW guide:

http://www.dart.org/about/riderinsider/darttodfw.pdf

EmailKid

Very excited about the start.

I've got a MR for a week from today, so hopefully the five days before will give them time to fix any potential problems. Yes, I realize they've been running (or so says DART) to DFW for last two weeks (without pax), but this is DART, and they are capable of messing up anything.

Looking forward to the 9 minute walk to the station and then the LOOOONG ride to the airport (train takes a rather non direct track, much like SEA, but unlike SEA travels at speeds around 15 MpH at times )

And if you are not able to print out your BP for nonAA flights, it's a LOOOOONG ride in the shuttle to your terminal. SkyLink only available if you can pass through security in Term A, and I'm not convinced you can print BPs for other airlines there.