DART

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City of Grand Prairie

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North Central Texas Council of Governments

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2 Cities May Unite For Transit

Here's an article from today's (10/4/2000) Arlington edition of the Dallas Morning News. A very salient point is at the end of the article -- supposedly, DART would require Grand Prairie to pay "makeup payments" for the sales tax not collected from the city since 1983!

But it's interesting to note that no DART representatives are quoted in the article. The "buyback" is only mentioned by "Grand Prairie's transportation director Rich Larkins", with no corroborating sources.

GP officials have a poor history when it comes to figuring out the transportation rules. In a 10/29/99 Morning News article, mayor Charles England says "the city's charter requires voters to approve any payment... for mass transit projects." Obviously, that was inaccurate -- but that same charter restriction is quoted again in this article.

Note that this article is Copyright 2000, The Dallas Morning News.

2 Cities May Unite For Transit

10/04/2000

By Stephanie Sandoval / Arlington Morning News

GRAND PRAIRIE - Arlington and Grand Prairie should consider implementing a joint transportation system rather than two separate ones, city officials said Tuesday.

"It would be a shame for us not to open up dialogue on whether both programs could not be better by looking at a combined operation," Grand Prairie City Manager Tom Hart said after the council members were briefed on Arlington's transit study.

A joint system with Arlington makes more sense than for Grand Prairie to establish its own transit authority or to join the Fort Worth or Dallas transit authorities, Grand Prairie's transportation director Rich Larkins said.

City officials also were given an update on the cost of a fixed route bus system that would serve only Grand Prairie.

Voters in Grand Prairie would have to approve a change to the city charter to allow the city to fund any mass transit system because the current rules prohibits using funds for that purpose.

Arlington council members cities said they would like give the joint system idea further consideration.

"Any time we can jointly do something that benefits both cities and cuts cost is worth looking into," Arlington City Council member Joe Bruner said. "I think it would be an ideal time to talk."

Arlington Mayor Elzie Odom and council members Sheri Capehart and Steve McCollum were also receptive.

"The two cities have many things in common. We both are sort of out of the loop for light rail," Mr. McCollum said. "We have common resources and common problems and there may very well be some joint measures we can take together."

Arlington hosted public forums on transit in September that included a possible bus system, after a residents advisory committee presented five transportation alternatives as part of the $100,000 transit study.

The consensus among the 31-member committee is that buses running along a flexible or fixed route would be the best place to start.

A presentation on the matter is expected to go before the Arlington City Council in November, and voters could decide by May whether fund a transit system with an increased sale tax.

Mr. Larkins said he was disappointed that a request nearly 18 months ago to the North Central Texas Council of Governments to include joint transit options in a study for Arlington had not been pursued.

He said he asked that Grand Prairie be included in the Arlington study shortly after the council first asked city staff to discuss the matter with Arlington officials in April 1998.

"The Council of Governments said they would look at that as a final phase of the transit study for Arlington" Mr. Larkins said. "I would have thought we'd have that analysis before they went out to public hearings."

Michael Morris, the Council of Governments' director of Transportation, said any study of joint transit options for Grand Prairie and Arlington would be several months down the road.

The cities must determine what the transit needs of their residents are before delving into the possibilities of a joint system, he said.

"I think we need to give Arlington the opportunity to decide which options we'd like to pursue first," Mr. Morris said.

He also said that he has sent letters to both cities mayors indicating the Council of Governments is ready to look at service on the Union Pacific rail line, which cuts through the hearts of both cities.

Developing a commuter or light rail system on the Union Pacific line might be beneficial to both Arlington and Grand Prairie, officials from both cities have said.

"My thinking is if we're successful in getting service up and running in the UP corridor, that would be the backbone for transit service in the area," Mr. Morris said.

On Tuesday, Grand Prairie council members also re-examined a fixed-route bus system that was first proposed in 1998.

The proposed system would include 16 buses on five routes. They would connect to each other, as well as the Trinity Railway Express' South Irving Transit Center.

Both Arlington and Grand Prairie have voted to contribute funds to the Trinity Railway Express, a 37-mile commuter line that runs just north of both cities but lacks stops in either.

Two of the five proposed Grand Prairie bus routes would carry riders to the Arlington city limits in the Great Southwest Industrial District and at the Festival Market Place.

Grand Prairie Transportation Planner Daon Stephens told the council that a quarter-cent sales tax and revenues from riders and advertising on buses could pay the city's share of the $5.1 million capital and operating costs.

Federal funding, he said, could pay for 80 percent of the costs, leaving Grand Prairie to pay about $1 million.

A quarter-cent sales tax, Mr. Hart said, would generate about $4 million a year.

By contrast, Mr. Larkins said the city would have to commit a one-cent sale tax to join DART.

"But the kicker was the buyback program," Mr. Larkins said.

He said that DART elections were in 1983. Grand Prairie chose not to join DART at that time.

But joining now would require making up payments for those years.

"We would have to in some form or fashion repay a number approaching 20 years of sales tax, which is a very significant amount," Mr. Larkins said. "That basically told us the DART folks did not want us to join."

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