Two identical bills filed with the Texas Legislature last week may lead to deep transit service cuts if passed, Dallas Area Rapid Transit has warned.
During a special meeting Friday, the agency’s board and staff discussed twin House and Senate bills meant to amend Chapter 452 of the state’s transportation code. The language would compel DART to set aside 25% of sales tax revenue collected from member cities to create a general mobility fund.
Cities could use the money for mobility projects like road construction and maintenance, streetlights and drainage improvements.
But that would amount to a loss of more than $230 million in DART funds in fiscal year 2026 ― meaning the agency would need to drastically reduce service. Service impacts could include:
- Reducing bus service by 30%
- Decreasing light rail frequency to 30 minutes or more
- Stopping Trinity Railway Express operations (which would reduce revenue)
- Eliminating 7 GoLink zones and cutting remaining on-demand service by 30%
- Cutting 17% of total paratransit trips, which would reduce service to federally mandated minimums
That would translate to 125,000 people losing access to bus and rail services entirely, according to staff’s presentation Friday. That includes up to one-third of seniors, youth and other vulnerable residents unable to tap into 15-minute peak service.
The agency would need to cut more than 900 employees, including significantly reducing the number of transit security and fare enforcement officers.
The changes would mean a “noticeable and immediate degradation” of system reliability and cleanliness, lead to reductions in spending on infrastructure and maintenance and impact the agency’s credit rating and grant funding, according to the presentation.
The bills come after months of back-and-forth between DART and six of its 13 member cities which have publicly supported cutting funding to the agency. Since its founding in 1983, DART has levied a 1-cent sales tax on participating cities.
Member cities hoping to reduce their contributions to DART have said poor service and a lack of financial transparency have been a source of frustration for years. Plano officials have pointed to a study by firm EY that showed the city contributed $109 million in 2023, while DART spent about $44 million on service there.
Several board members, however, have said the EY report doesn’t adequately reflect how the regional transit agency operates.
Plano officials have been the most vocal about the need for change at DART. They have long threatened to push for legislative change if the agency did not voluntarily agree to establish a mobility fund refunding cities a portion of their tax contributions.
“We gave them [DART] ample time to work with us on a fair and equitable solution to their spending problem,” Andrew Fortune, Plano’s director of government relations, said in a statement last week.
“When they failed to act, we had no choice but to ask our taxpayer champions in the Texas Legislature to step in on our behalf.”
The North Central Texas Council of Governments wants to encourage DART and its member cities to turn to mediation instead of a legislative fight, director of transportation Michael Morris told the board.
Curbing DART funding through legislation would likely have unintended consequences, according to Morris. That would include threatening funding for the region’s mobility plan, jeopardizing federally regulated air quality goals and impacting public transit for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
It would also lay an unclear path for Transit 2.0, a sweeping study aimed at supporting sustainable development in Dallas-Fort Worth and preparing the region for growth.
“I hear everyone likes Transit 2.0 but if we’re going to do cool things like economic development and a whole bunch of other stuff, I’m pretty sure that evaporates in a radical situation and it has negative impacts on our performance measures,” Morris said.
Board members discussed the potential impacts of the legislation in a closed session following Friday’s staff presentation.
