Replying to TRE, DART and The T - DFW - Tale of Two Rail Systems

The best thing they can do is take a shovel to the DFW Airport, or at least the passenger side, and return primary pax operations to Love and some regional stuff to Meacham (FTW). For years there has been strong talk of clearing the housing addition south of Love Runway 18-36 and extending that runway, allowing for no complaint 24 hour operation as departures to the south go over nothing but industrial area. Then folks won't have to worry about taking 6 hours to get to DFW and/or pay confiscatory parking rates. Here a step to the past would be a step in the right direction.

I experienced first-hand how amazing is the public transport connectivity to DFW Airport last month when I flew to India for vacation. A friend was supposed to drop me to airport but he could not make it last minute so I decided to give the public transit option a try. I started at 11.30am from Richardson (for a 4.45pm flight, yes, THAT early), took a Red line DART train to Union Station, reaching there at 12.12pm. A TRE train was waiting at the adjacent platform that departed at 12.20pm and dropped me at Center Point/DFW station at 12.50pm. An Airport bus was waiting at the station for the train and the moment I hopped in, it started and drove to South Remote Lot parking, reaching there at 1.20pm. I got off there and took another bus to Terminal D, finally reaching the terminal at 1.45pm. It took me lugging my bags in and out of train/bus three times, and over two hours, to reach the airport that is 30 minute drive by car from where I started. This is the absolute fastest transit time, since I had both trains and buses waiting for departure with almost zero wait when I arrived at their stops. At other times of the day it would have taken even longer. On the positive side, it cost me under $10, where a Super Shuttle would have cost $35 while a cab would be $50+

I hope that the shuttle bus that will be established from the new Belt Line Rd Orange Line station in December serves the terminals and not the parking lots. And same for the eventual light rail extension.

Imagine if you had to make that trip on a Sunday!

Seems like I saw that the shuttle bus will only run every 40 minutes from the Belt Line Station. I hope that is wrong. Something tells me though that people will still have to transfer at Remote North Parking and board another shuttle to your terminal. I hope I'm wrong on that too, but I think it would be just really expensive to run 5 dedicated buses from the DART station to each terminal. Or perhaps they'll just double up, A/B bus, B/E bus, and D bus. Who really knows at this point.

When the rail is finally extended to the airport itself, it'll depend on which airline you are taking and which terminal you are going to and whether or not you are checking bags. The Orange Line station will be put between where Terminals A and B come together on the north end. If you're taking American, you can just walk to these terminals and check your bag and check in, and take the Skylink to your final gate. Not really sure what you do if you need to check a bag when you are taking Delta, and avoid a bus. Since Skylink operates inside security, you need a boarding pass to get to it. And if you have more than one carry on, you have to check it, which means you can't clear security until you do so.

We've taken the TRE, from DFW Airport both to DT Dallas and in the other direction to Ft. Worth. While it does take a bit of time for the 2 shuttle transfers, it is totally free and can be a bit of adventure. Just allow enough time, and enjoy the fact that it even exists! SE Michigan is SO SLOW to get on that particular train, pun intended... I am starting to despair of it ever happening.

To clarify... the SHUTTLE is free. I forget how much the TRE fare is, not much though.

$5 from either cities.

Only $3.50 from either city really. If you go past Centreport/DFW Airport, it'll be $5 for a one-way.

We've taken the TRE, from DFW Airport both to DT Dallas and in the other direction to Ft. Worth. While it does take a bit of time for the 2 shuttle transfers, it is totally free and can be a bit of adventure. Just allow enough time, and enjoy the fact that it even exists! SE Michigan is SO SLOW to get on that particular train, pun intended... I am starting to despair of it ever happening.

To clarify... the SHUTTLE is free. I forget how much the TRE fare is, not much though.

$5 from either cities.

We've taken the TRE, from DFW Airport both to DT Dallas and in the other direction to Ft. Worth. While it does take a bit of time for the 2 shuttle transfers, it is totally free and can be a bit of adventure. Just allow enough time, and enjoy the fact that it even exists! SE Michigan is SO SLOW to get on that particular train, pun intended... I am starting to despair of it ever happening.

To clarify... the SHUTTLE is free. I forget how much the TRE fare is, not much though.

We've taken the TRE, from DFW Airport both to DT Dallas and in the other direction to Ft. Worth. While it does take a bit of time for the 2 shuttle transfers, it is totally free and can be a bit of adventure. Just allow enough time, and enjoy the fact that it even exists! SE Michigan is SO SLOW to get on that particular train, pun intended... I am starting to despair of it ever happening.

I experienced first-hand how amazing is the public transport connectivity to DFW Airport last month when I flew to India for vacation. A friend was supposed to drop me to airport but he could not make it last minute so I decided to give the public transit option a try. I started at 11.30am from Richardson (for a 4.45pm flight, yes, THAT early), took a Red line DART train to Union Station, reaching there at 12.12pm. A TRE train was waiting at the adjacent platform that departed at 12.20pm and dropped me at Center Point/DFW station at 12.50pm. An Airport bus was waiting at the station for the train and the moment I hopped in, it started and drove to South Remote Lot parking, reaching there at 1.20pm. I got off there and took another bus to Terminal D, finally reaching the terminal at 1.45pm. It took me lugging my bags in and out of train/bus three times, and over two hours, to reach the airport that is 30 minute drive by car from where I started. This is the absolute fastest transit time, since I had both trains and buses waiting for departure with almost zero wait when I arrived at their stops. At other times of the day it would have taken even longer. On the positive side, it cost me under $10, where a Super Shuttle would have cost $35 while a cab would be $50+

I hope that the shuttle bus that will be established from the new Belt Line Rd Orange Line station in December serves the terminals and not the parking lots. And same for the eventual light rail extension.

Imagine if you had to make that trip on a Sunday!

I experienced first-hand how amazing is the public transport connectivity to DFW Airport last month when I flew to India for vacation. A friend was supposed to drop me to airport but he could not make it last minute so I decided to give the public transit option a try. I started at 11.30am from Richardson (for a 4.45pm flight, yes, THAT early), took a Red line DART train to Union Station, reaching there at 12.12pm. A TRE train was waiting at the adjacent platform that departed at 12.20pm and dropped me at Center Point/DFW station at 12.50pm. An Airport bus was waiting at the station for the train and the moment I hopped in, it started and drove to South Remote Lot parking, reaching there at 1.20pm. I got off there and took another bus to Terminal D, finally reaching the terminal at 1.45pm. It took me lugging my bags in and out of train/bus three times, and over two hours, to reach the airport that is 30 minute drive by car from where I started. This is the absolute fastest transit time, since I had both trains and buses waiting for departure with almost zero wait when I arrived at their stops. At other times of the day it would have taken even longer. On the positive side, it cost me under $10, where a Super Shuttle would have cost $35 while a cab would be $50+

From what I hear Arlington doesnt even have buses.

You are correct. Except I think there are some buses on the UTA campus. Those don't count though. But to be fair, most of the DFW suburbs don't have any transit. Most of Tarrant county on the Fort Worth side doesn't have anything at all, except for Fort Worth proper. But even that network is skeletel at best.

From what I hear Arlington doesnt even have buses.