Case Study: Dallas DART

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) was established in 1983 by a referendum, which included approval of a sales tax to support public transit services. DART provides bus, rail and paratransit (dial-a-ride) services to over 200,000 people a day, across a 700-square-mile service area:

  • Local transit service (bus and light rail) operates on surface streets or rights of way.

  • Rapid transit service (express bus and commuter rail) provides expedited trips to major employment centers.

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) technology to track the system’s 1,280 buses have been put to use in these applications:

  • Testing flexible-route buses on a regional crosstown route in the Dallas metropolitan area to determine if flexible service can increase ridership. The combination of AVL and CAD software enable the calculation of any slack in a bus' schedule. When sufficient slack is detected, a fixed-route bus may deviate and pickup off-route passengers at a designated location. (Dallas Personalized Public Transit Project, started in July 1997)

  • Improved scheduling for the agency's fleet of 200 paratransit vans thanks to a new communications system. The routing and scheduling system has resulted in enhanced services such as the ability to group customers with similar trip patterns, provide up to five option runs per trip request and allow simulations. It also interfaces with DART's fixed bus route and rail systems for transfer of disabled passengers.
    (Started November 1997)

  • The FTA-sponsored ITS Operational Test (Fixed and Flexible Transit) uses both AVL and Integrated Radio systems already existing on DART's 823 transit buses, 200 mobility-impaired vans and 142 supervisory and support vehicles, to offer off-route passengers a convenient pick-up by fixed-route transit vehicles based on scheduling allowances.


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