Quote:
Originally Posted by texcolo
I wonder how Dallas' numbers are going to jump, since they just connected DFW Airport to the orange line.
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DART was only predicting another 1200 riders or so from DFW airport. Therefore, I don't expect to see a major increase in weekday riders. It'll be interesting to see what the data shows after 6 months or so.
Many comment that DART light rail riderships are relatively low considering the number of miles of trackage. Generalizing, 100,000 weekday riders takes approximately 50,000 cars off the freeways. At 2,000 cars per hour per lane, that's a potential of 25 lanes of traffic cleared for just one hour, 12 lanes of traffic cleared over two hours, 8 lanes of traffic cleared over three hours, and 6 lanes of traffic cleared over four hours. That's a significant decrease in traffic congestion.
Other cities are better suited for rail transit than Dallas. Take Seattle for an example, where a single north-south rail line can attract much more riders than any of DART's lines - based on geography. Seattle's Link light rail services will have three lines departing from downtown, north, south, and east. DART today has seven light rail lines departing from downtown; northwest (orange), north-northwest (green), north (red), northeast (blue), southeast (green), south (blue), and southwest (red). Dallas doesn't have the geographic hurdles that concentrate developments on a single axis. The only compass points not covered are west and east (or otherwise along I-30). I would like to point out that the suburbs along I-30 did not join DART - and why DART has no plans to date to run light rail lines in those directions. But I-30 is generally covered by Amtrak's Texas Eagle - a poor substitute relatively - but is there to provide a bare minimum of rail service. There are HOV lanes on I-30 which DART operates express bus services for commuters. Which is also true for almost every freeway and tollway into Dallas inner core.