This week, Connor and Hexel talked about:
- D2 subway alignment postponed indefinitely
- Upcoming Tier 1 & 2 bus network
- Weatherizing light rail for extreme heat
- Streetcar pros and cons
- Week Without Driving, October 2-8
Below are show notes to accompany this week’s episode.
D2 subway alignment postponed indefinitely
“Downtown Dallas Subway ‘D2’ Is No Longer Part of DART’s Long-Term Plans” by Matt Goodman for D Magazine. This was the first article to break the news on mainstream media.
Editor of D Magazine, Tim Rogers, published “Matt Goodman Gets Done Dirty on DART Story”:
“Yesterday our Matt Goodman broke a pretty big story about DART. The agency has decided not to build a $1.7 billion subway through downtown Dallas… You know how Matt learned about this news? He got a tip from a transportation geek who had seen something in a Reddit forum about DART’s financial plan and noticed that the subway was no longer in that plan.”
“Four hours later, Ken Kalthoff over at NBC 5 published a story with [headline that’s one word short of being completely identical to Goodman’s headline]… In his story, Kalthoff wrote: ‘The Dallas Area Rapid Transit agency announced Tuesday that the project has been removed from the 20-year financial plan.’ DART made no such announcement. Matt did. He broke the news.”
Connor posted a follow-up on Reddit, wherein he thanks Matt for reporting on what he saw on the r/DART subreddit. and encouraged him to cover DART’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 plans for the bus network, a topic which remains unreported by mainstream outlets thus far.
Upcoming Tier 1 & 2 bus network
Posts by Connor (u/cuberandgamer) on reddit.com/r/dart about DART’s Tier 1 and Tier 2 plans for the bus network:
- Tier 1 Bus Network - More of a near term improvement
- New Bus Routes for Tier 2, bus route modifications beyond next year
- Recap post: DART’s future transit plans, for those who don’t know (Tier One vs Tier Two, and maps)
- This changes everything - Tier Two Transit Network coming (Eventually?)
Weatherizing light rail for extreme heat
Read from an anonymous DART operator the explanation for how extreme heat damaged rail lines and how DART handled delays.
Streetcar pros and cons
Find information about the Dallas Streetcar on the DART.org website.
Find information about the M-Line Trolley on the MATA.org website.
Week Without Driving, October 2-8
Learn more about National Week Without Driving on the AmericaWalks.org website.
The campaign is organized locally by Dallas Bike Coalition and Better Block.
Credits
The music featured in this episode comes from Blue Dot Sessions. Tracks used in order of appearance: Bossa Boa, Grumpalo, Carolina Carboy, Caverna, Caveman, Sloppy Jo.
This episode was co-hosted by Hexel Colorado (@hexel_co on X/Twitter, @hexel.co on Threads) and Connor Hulla (@AltConnor on X/Twitter, u/cuberandgamer on Reddit).
