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DART Celebrates 40th Anniversary
richardsontoday.com
Dallas Area Rapid Transit is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Richardson is one of the original members of DART, having joined along with 13 other cities in 1983.
In addition to its fleet of 692 buses that service more than 6,800 bus stops, the DART Rail System is one of the longest light rail systems in the United States at 93 miles. The system has four lines—Red, Blue, Green, and Orange—with all lines passing through downtown Dallas. DART Rail serves 65 stations in nine cities.
Richardson was the first Dallas suburb to receive DART Rail service, as trains began rolling into Richardson on July 1, 2002. Today, Richardson is home to four DART Rail stations and will be home to two Silver Line stations when service begins on that line in 2025 or 2026.
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FTA Awards $102.3 Million in Funding to 17 Transit Agencies, Cities and Planning Councils for Natural Disaster Relief
masstransitmag.com
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has awarded $102.3 million in funding to 17 transit agencies, cities and planning councils in eight states and territories to help recover from recent natural disasters. The funding, provided through FTA’s Public Transportation Emergency Relief (ER) Program, will help them repair damaged equipment and facilities and recoup costs for evacuation and rescue operations following floods, hurricanes and tornadoes that occurred in 2017 and 2020-22.
“As climate change accelerates, we are seeing floods, hurricanes and wildfires that used to be once-in-a-century events coming every few months and causing greater damage to our lives, communities and infrastructure,” said U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
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Trinity Metro Awards Tolar Manufacturing Three-Year Contract for Plans to Upgrade Entire Bus Stop System
masstransitmag.com
Trinity Metro in Fort Worth, Texas, has awarded a three-year contract to Tolar Manufacturing Company for plans to upgrade bus stops system-wide by designing, producing and installing thousands of passenger amenities at every bus stop in the service area.
Along with over 254 Signature Sunset bus shelters that include agency branding advertising panels, Tolar will also provide new, uniquely designed Signature Sunset EcoShade six-feet wide monopole shelters for locations with narrow or limited right-of-way. The first 40 shelters, including several 18-feet high capacity Signature Sunset shelters, are scheduled to be installed with the help of certified Tolar installation partner, L.A.W. Contracting of San Antonio, Texas, in October to help celebrate Trinity Metro’s 40th anniversary.
Trinity Metro sought to ensure its customers and the community could provide feedback about the new bus shelters and amenities along a busy commuter corridor. Tolar Manufacturing was asked to create three prototype shelters that were installed along Hemphill Street in Fort Worth. Survey takers offered opinions on the amenities, from the look of the shelter, to the comfort of the bench, among other features.
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Trinity Metro Selects Huitt-Zollars + TranSystems for TEXRail Extension
ridetrinitymetro.org
Trinity Metro has selected the Huitt-Zollars + TranSystems team as final design consultant (FDC) for its TEXRAIL extension project, a critical element of Trinity Metro’s strategic plan to expand transit and improve public transportation in Fort Worth, Texas.
The $167 million program encompasses a 2.1-mile commuter rail extension from the Fort Worth T&P Station to a new station (Near Southside Station) located in the Fort Worth Medical District, which employees 50,000. In addition to the rail extension, this project also includes the design of the new Near Southside Station with a 100-space park-and-ride lot. Construction will begin in 2024.
“We are pleased to partner again with Huitt-Zollars and TranSystems,” said Chad Edwards, executive vice president of strategy, planning and development at Trinity Metro. “Our previous collaborations yielded highly successful results, so we are looking forward to continued excellence for our community.”
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Automated Bus Consortium Updates Transit Bus Requests for 2024
dbusiness.com
The Automated Bus Consortium, a collective of U.S., state, and municipal departments of transportation including the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan, is updating its request for proposals (RFP) first issued in January 2022 to procure full-size highly automated transit buses.
The state of Michigan is serving as the lead procurement agency on behalf of the consortium agencies. The updates will be made to the bus specifications and RFP based on lessons learned and the latest automation industry advancements with the goal of releasing the updated RFP in early 2024.
The RFP represents the first carbon neutral automated bus procurement and large-scale deployment for full-sized buses. Formed by AECOM, a Traverse City provider of engineering, consulting, and project management services, the Automated Bus Consortium is a first-of-its-kind approach to investigate the feasibility of pilot automated bus projects and accelerate the deployment of automated transit technologies.
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DCTA Discusses Next Steps for Collin County Rides Program
communityimpact.com
The Denton County Transportation Authority is taking steps to assume control of the Collin County Rides program, but it may not be ready by Oct. 1 when services are slated to expire.
To ensure continuation, Dallas Area Rapid Transit is being asked to consider extending its contract for the program past Oct. 1 until the end of January, transportation authority CEO Paul Cristina said during a July 27 board of directors meeting.
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DART Officials Provide Update on Richardson Silver Line Stations
communityimpact.com
Dallas Area Rapid Transit officials gave updates on the progress of the Silver Line project—a new regional rail line that will connect Plano in the east to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in the west—at a July 26 Richardson community meeting.
During the meeting, officials from both DART and Archer Western Herzog, the design and construction firm for the project, provided a general overview of the Silver Line and Richardson-specific projects. The Silver Line is projected to begin service in late 2025 or 2026, according to documents provided by DART.
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