Passenger Trains > DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) election withdrawal results

Welp, the three cities - Addison, Highland Park, and University Park - had their DART pullout election yesterday.  Addison voters elected to stay in DART by 70% (!), Highland Park told DART to scram 😞, and Univ.
Park elected to keep DART - barely.  My theory is that SMU is what saved DART in Univ. Park.  I think Addison was easy choice since the new Silver Line just opened thru there only last October.  

Screengrab (cropped) from Fox4News:

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So what happens?

Will Highland Park stop paying and lose its station, and the system keeps going?

> So what happens?
>
> Will Highland Park stop paying and lose its station, and the system keeps going?
>
Highland Park has no station. 

SAAP Wrote:
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> Highland Park has no station. 

None of those arrogant, wealthy white people would've used it anyways...

JG

Think HP just has bus stops, which I believe are removed from the system.  I'm guessing the bus routes will continue thru the city but no longer make any stops there.  If so, we'll see if & when the residents squawk
about it.....

So DART is still alive, minus one stop? Not sure if I am following full context of what happened, didn't happen, did happen, and necessarily will happen........More familiar overall, with TRE than DART. And yes, I Googled DART - appears there are four different light rail train lines that it runs on? And one of the longest light rail systems? But beyond that - got me. 

Last fall several Dallas area suburban cities claimed that they were not getting their monies worth with the DART system, rail and bus.  As withdraw from the system elections were set for May of 2026, DART began negotiations with municipalities to find solutions to help overcome the impasse.  Efforts were successful in nearly all cities.  Plano had led the effort to withdraw, but like other participating cities, they were content with the solution.  I have forgotten the details, but all cities expect the three named above scrubbed the withdraw elections for yesterday.  The three holdout cities had elections, one voted to stay in by a wide margin, one elected to stay in by a slim  margin, and one voted out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/03/26 16:11 by regalstream1516.

> > Highland Park has no station. 
>
> None of those arrogant, wealthy white people would've used it anyways...
>
Arrogant doesn't even begin to describe it. Highland Park had been a member for DART from the beginning, 43 years ago, and they had veto power. They blocked light rail from being built on the ex-MKT right-of-way - even if the trains were to run non-stop through the city. This is why the Red and Blue lines run on an expensive subway under Central Expressway.
They single-handedly cost taxpayers over $500 million dollars (over $1 Billion in today's dollars) and delayed light rail completion by nearly 4 years.
 
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/26 07:41 by SAAP.

> So DART is still alive, minus one stop? Not sure if I am following full context of what happened, didn't happen, did happen, and necessarily will happen........More familiar overall, with TRE than
> DART. And yes, I Googled DART - appears there are four different light rail train lines that it runs on? And one of the longest light rail systems? But beyond that - got me. 
>
Highland Park is an enclave city surrounded by Dallas. It's not on the light rail system. It only has a couple of transit bus routes running north-south through it. Those routes will certainly continue but detour or run non-stop through the city. 

Every large city seems to have an enclave of wealthy residents, similar to Beverly Hills in Los Angeles. In Dallas, that enclave is Highland Park which has about 9,000 residents, and I doubt that many of them would have an interest in using public transit. I am impressed that any of them voted for DART.

Posted from iPhone

The usual tiny percentage of voters actually voted in this special election.   Happens everywhere,  then people complain about the results.   Perhaps it's time for mandatory voting,  at least for statewide and national elections.   Seems to work quite well in my other country, Chile.

A minor update;  current DART bus lines passing thru HP will continue to do so, they just won't make stops there anymore, effective May 14 when the HP city council votes to confirm the election.

https://www.fox4news.com/news/dart-terminate-bus-paratransit-services-highland-park-following-may-election

masterphots Wrote:
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> The usual tiny percentage of voters actually voted
> in this special election.   Happens
> everywhere,  then people complain about the
> results.   Perhaps it's time for mandatory
> voting,  at least for statewide and national
> elections.   Seems to work quite well in my
> other country, Chile.

The number of votes is rather pathetic, but no different than what I see in my city.  Sad.

Nathan

masterphots Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The usual tiny percentage of voters actually voted
> in this special election.   Happens
> everywhere,  then people complain about the
> results.   Perhaps it's time for mandatory
> voting,  at least for statewide and national
> elections.   Seems to work quite well in my
> other country, Chile.

Turkey (Turkiye) used to have mandatory voting, with a penalty of 4000 Liras for non-participation. This was during
the 1980's when I was stationed there with the US Air Force.

The 4000 Lira penalty was about $15-$20 in US Dollars, depending on the exchange rate. This was a princely sum
to the average Turkish voter at the time, a top scale civilian employee on the AF base at the time made about 50,000 a month,
Liras, which was $200.00 US, so these persons made sure they went to the polls.

 

jgilmore Wrote:
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> SAAP Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Highland Park has no station. 
>
> None of those arrogant, wealthy white people
> would've used it anyways...
>
> JG

I'm not sure that's fair. An equivalent suburb might be Highland Park, Illinois, the 5th wealthiest suburb in the midwest (https://www.islands.com/2098276/midwest-wealthiest-suburbs-according-research/). It has a very busy Metra stop, used by many commuters into Chicago. 

Also, wealthy communities tend to have many people working in those houses, cleaning, etc. Many of those employees need public transportation, even if their employers don't. 

41 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A minor update;  current DART bus lines passing
> thru HP will continue to do so, they just won't
> make stops there anymore, effective May 14 when
> the HP city council votes to confirm the
> election.
>

It's basically just the one bus (#237) running north-south through the city every 30-40 minutes or so on Preston Road. Not much in the town other than
a bunch of expensive ($6-10M and up) houses, a large park, a country club, and a small, high-end shopping center (Highland Park Village)

The bus no longer stopping in HP will probably hurt those people who work in the shopping center, etc. more than anyone else...

I'm sure the City has some residents that use the ADA paratransit service. This service will also be discontinued.