The Dallas City Council’s transportation committee will be briefed this afternoon about a proposed agreement between DART, the city of Dallas, and Downtown Dallas Inc. to operate shuttles through downtown Dallas. There will be two shuttles that roughly run along a modified portion of current DART bus routes 21 and 49, and the shuttles would run more frequently than do buses — every 15 minutes from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The estimated cost of operating the shuttles is $1.2 million a year, with the city putting up $400,000 of that.
Route 21 will basically go between Klyde Warren Park and the Omni, including running along most of the length of Main Street through downtown, and then into Oak Cliff. Route 49 will go from the Medical District south to serve the hotels along Stemmons Freeway, then through Victory Park, serving the Perot Museum, then south through downtown and ending up in the Cedars. The cost to ride would be $5 for a day pass or $1.75 for a midday/lunch hour pass.
(UPDATE: Got this note from Kourtny Garrett at Downtown Dallas Inc.: “We are actually working closely with DART to determine a reduced fair, likely FREE, when the full Downtown Shuttle (more dynamic branding to come as well) launches in August.”)
DART identifies the probable users of these shuttles as tourists and convention vistors, downtown employees, and “local citizens.” Which all together translates as “people.”
The DART board still has to approve the agreement, which is for a two-year experiment that would begin August 26. Why then? According to the council briefing document: “Downtown Shuttle begins the week of the TDJake’s Megafeast.”
I really wish “Megafeast” weren’t a typo. Instead, they mean this.
