Dallas Area Rapid Transit, the light rail transit system used by many Comets to get around DFW, faces threats of decreased funding from Plano and other Dallas cities.
Plano’s city council, one of the first cities to push for budget cuts, voted June 24 to cut their funding for DART by 25%. According to DART’s fiscal year 2024 budget and 20-year financial plan, DART gains more than half of its funding for operating costs from its one-cent sales tax from the 13 DART member cities, of which Plano is a part.
Funding cuts could directly affect the reliability of transportation for Comets using DART to get to campus. According to WFAA, as of Aug. 8, Irving’s, Rowlett’s, Carrollton’s and Farmers Branch’s city councils and Highland Park’s town council followed Plano’s lead and passed proposals that would cut the sales tax, from one cent to three-fourths of a penny. According to DART, the penny tax was established on Aug. 13, 1983, when DART was founded. KERA News reported Dallas is also considering cutting its funding to DART, saying there is a gap in the city’s pension fund the penny tax could be used to bridge. While these cities have voted to lessen their funding for DART, this can only be implemented under Texas law if the DART board of directors opens the floor for a majority vote, where all 13 member cities would vote on the sales tax cut. Notably, Richardson has yet to state anything supporting the idea of a tax cut.
“The current system will not work,” Carrolton Mayor Steve Babick said. “I don’t think this 25% reduction is intended to cut the growth; I think it will actually grow funding because we will bring more cities to the equation. If we got Frisco, Coppell, and McKinney to join DART and connect the rail through there, I think this would give even more money [to DART] from the additional sales tax dollars from those three cities.”
Babick said Carrollton hopes that a 25% reduction in sales tax would be part of a complete restructuring of how member cities have representation within DART, how funding would be utilized and how other North Texas cities can become member cities to help the DART system sustain itself as population growth continues in North Texas. Richard Fleming, mayor pro tem of Carrollton, agreed to an interview with The Mercury but failed to appear.
Currently, students at UTD have access to the Comet Cruiser and a free DART GoPass that provides access to DART’s train and bus services across the DFW metroplex. The Silver Line is DART’s newest light rail, which according to DART, will serve seven cities starting in late 2025 and include a station at UTD – the university’s first on-campus train line,, allowing for more immediate access to locations like the DFW International Airport. Healthcare studies senior Chandu Garapaty, the president of Comets for Better Transit — a UTD student organization that advocates for students to have easy access to transportation -said the club’s reaction to talks of budget cuts for DART is not a positive one.
“Most of us really do rely on DART for our daily needs, whether it’s to get to our part-time job or to get between an off-campus apartment to campus,” Garapaty said. “A funding cut, which would lead to a service cut, would really affect us, and that’s why we are trying to focus on preventing these cuts from happening.”
Liam Nichols, a philosophy senior and vice president of Comets for Better Transit, said cross-organization collaboration is important to reach the needs of commuters. Nichols said one of the short-term goals for Comets for Better Transit is rallying supporters to demonstrate the need for DART to reject the budget cuts so commuters do not suffer the consequences of decreased funding. Operating budget cuts would require DART to limit its frequency and coverage to accommodate the reduced financial resources. The Dallas Area Transit Alliance is working with Comets for Better Transit to contact local representatives and lobby against the budget cuts. Previously, Comets for Better Transit worked with DART to double the frequency of the Comet Cruiser 833 East bus route starting fall 2023, alleviating its overcrowding problem.
“The biggest problem with DART is that people don’t know what riders look like, or who actually uses the service,” Nichols said.
Garapaty said if any students are passionate about stopping the funding cuts, they should reach out to Comets for Better Transit for help and further information. Comets for Better Transit runs a Discord server and an Instagram page, @cometsforbettertransit, where it shares club updates and relevant information. Its Linktree provides all relevant links to the organization at linktr.ee/cometsforbettertransit.
Garapaty said students should contact local representatives and officials and share how these budget cuts would affect their daily lives. Garapaty said Comets for Better Transit plans to have monthly meetings in the fall semester, with workshops, Discord meetings and smaller group sessions in between to help foster the club’s mission and participation.
Garapaty said voting will be crucial to not only the future of transit, but to education, and encourages everyone to register to vote and vote in upcoming elections.
“We have an election year coming up, not only in the federal election in November, but also local elections in May; those local elections are going to be extremely important,” Garapaty said. “A lot of what we do for Comets for Better Transit is very locally focused, and so those local elections, state elections, they really matter.”