Seriously though, a "one-seat" ride (the current plan will require a shuttle of some sort between the airport and the nearest Green Line station) has large benefits in passenger ride times, less hassle factor - especially with luggage, and increased ridership due to these and other factors. I didn't look at the details of the connection, but I wonder what DART and the Dallas metro area is sacrificing in the final outcome. Maybe not much - Love Field might not have the traffic to get above "just being friends" with DART. Locals?
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csa | 7:17 PM |
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Congratulations to the FTA on another shortsighted decision made with their heads in the sand, hiding behind numbers that if past is prologue, are very likely to be wrong.
This is consistent with the current approach at FTA of "do everything as cheaply as possible, regardless of system quality, or better yet, do nothing at all."
With all the ridership estimates FTA has blown recently, like in Salt Lake and Minneapolis, among others, nobody would pay any attention to them if they weren't the gatekeepers for Federal Funds.
The New Starts program is really the "No Starts" program.
Love Field is somewhat akin to Reagan National--it is primarily for local travel, including a great deal of business--a direct link from downtown would be rather useful.
At my own school of Southern Methodist Univeristy, at the beginning and end of every break I see dozens of cabs lining up--most going to Love Field.
But... there is still the fact that the rail downtown is all at street level. It takes twenty minites to go less than a mile, and that would be before changing trains to the new Green Line.
Another option that I believe was considered at one time: Run a light rail spur to the the Love Field terminal (at grade). Then establish a new line that would run along this spur, then along the Green Line track to Downtown, then along red/blue line tracks through Union Station to the Convention Center. That would provide a one-transfer ride from anywhere on the light rail or TRE system to Love Field at a much lower cost than a tunnel. It could also be built as a separate, non-FTA funded project.
Was this an easy headline to write. DART can't do an end-run around the FTA and