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

[The Chief]

Here's the 4 Jan 2012 article.

With no direct public transit to DFW Airport, and the archaic Jim Wright rules governing aircraft capacity and destination out of Dallas' Love Field, our "Metroplex" certainly likes to keep one foot planted firmly in 20th century.

When I lived in Arlington, I rode TRE every day to downtown Dallas Union Station, then DART or bus to midtown. But I had to drive out of Arlington north to the Centreport (Fort Worth) station to board, as there is NO station in Arlington, the "destination city" of the Metroplex with Rangers and Cowboys stadia and Six Flags Over Texas. Shame shame shame.

 

[stntylr]

I noticed that the picture they have of the TRE is really the Texas Eagle.

Arlington seems to be the only city that is proud of the fact it has no mass transit. While both the TRE and DART stop right in front of American Airlines Center Jerry Jones has made sure that anyone going to his games payed to park.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Stan already mentioned that Jerry Jones wants to continue to rake in Parking Revenue! (Ive heard that it's $45 to park @ Jerry World aka Cowboy Stadium and the Texas Rangers next door benefit from this also!) It would be interesting to know what the city fathers in Arlington agreed to in the deals they cut with these greed merchants! Perhaps a resident of the DFW Metroplex can enlightent us on whether or not there is any kind of plan to extend TRE or DART to Arlington to link Ft. Worth and Dallas and the other Metroplex suburbs with this Tourist Mecca?? :help:

 

[Ispolkom]

My, my. I was starting to look at a plan to fly to DFW on American Airlines, then take the Texas Eagle from Fort Worth or Dallas to Chicago, and I stupidly assumed that CentrePort/DFW Airport Station was somewhere near the airport, and that it would be an easy, straight-forward transfer to the TRE. I see that was a mistake. Does it really take an hour to get from the airport to the TRE station on the two buses? Would a cab take that long to get from DFW to Dallas Union Station?

 

[Texan Eagle]

My, my. I was starting to look at a plan to fly to DFW on American Airlines, then take the Texas Eagle from Fort Worth or Dallas to Chicago, and I stupidly assumed that CentrePort/DFW Airport Station was somewhere near the airport, and that it would be an easy, straight-forward transfer to the TRE. I see that was a mistake. Does it really take an hour to get from the airport to the TRE station on the two buses? Would a cab take that long to get from DFW to Dallas Union Station?

An hour maybe an exaggeration, but it does take long. Firstly, from the terminal you have to wait for a bus going to remote parking lot. This is around a 10-15 minute drive. Then at the remote lot you have to change to another bus that goes to TRE station, and if you are lucky you might have a bus waiting for you, else you might have to wait upto half hour or so. Board this bus for a 15-ish minute ride to the TRE station, and then wait for the TRE to come by to take you to Dallas. This whole trip will cost you $5 and take considerable time. Another option would be to take a cab from the airport to Dallas Union Station which can be a 30 minute drive and will cost you $50-something. A middle way out would be to take the Super Shuttle that might drop you for less than cab fare but it might take long time since it drops off multiple passengers.

If you are coming from a city served by Southwest Airlines, you might want to consider that option. Once you land at Love Field, you can take a short bus ride to DART Green Line station and transfer to light rail to be at Union Station in under half an hour or so.

 

[The Chief]

Unfortunately, yes, IS. Unlike Minneapolis where you can ride that rail right into the airport, no such new- fangled tech here. A cab could take that long, depending on traffic on "Airport Freeway." Even DART "express" bus to airport requires a transfer, as it is set up mainly for employees, terminating in the remote parking. The DFW airport website homepage doesn't even list a "Public Transportation" type of entry, like most major city airports can, and do list on their website landing page. Instead the DFW landing page touts "The Skylink high-speed train" which is an inter-terminal "monorail" design.

Texas remains a one-person, one-truck (or car) mentality, and I don't know if that will ever change. Humorist Dave Barry said it best, noting "I doubt they [Mexico] could take Texas by force. Texas has the largest fleet of armed pickup trucks of any major power."

Now I like, and really agree with that, but also support public mass transit.

stntylr, Arlington is the largest city in U.S. with no mass transit. jimhudson, that link to Arlington has been talked about, like the Cowboys slick multi-million dollar pre-taxpayer-bond vote campaign which virtually promised that Arlington would be ringed by 6-8 lane superhighways. I'm still laughing about that, and recall having to take the "airport connector," SH 360, Arlington's route to DFW airport (and Centreport station). I called it the Ho Chi Minh trail. I doubt any TRE-DART link to Arlington ever will happen. The last "commuter" train to Arlington was when Warren Buffet parked his PV for the Super Bowl last February. As Jerry blew the hosting of Super Bowl XLV, I even doubt the NFL will return.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

Here's the 4 Jan 2012 article.

With no direct public transit to DFW Airport, and the archaic Jim Wright rules governing aircraft capacity and destination out of Dallas' Love Field, our "Metroplex" certainly likes to keep one foot planted firmly in 20th century.

When I lived in Arlington, I rode TRE every day to downtown Dallas Union Station, then DART or bus to midtown. But I had to drive out of Arlington north to the Centreport (Fort Worth) station to board, as there is NO station in Arlington, the "destination city" of the Metroplex with Rangers and Cowboys stadia and Six Flags Over Texas. Shame shame shame.

Blame that solely on that **** hick Jerry Jones.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

The NFL has indicated because of how poorly the Super Bowl was handled by Jerry Jones and other local officials Dallas will never again be considered as a host, and poor transit was part of that fiasco. Getting around IN Dallas or FTW isn't too difficult with mass trans but except for TRE (and that doesn't even run on Sunday) getting around or into the surrounding areas is near impossible.

 

[saxman]

I can't remember the year, but Arlington voters had two choices; vote for transit or vote for a new stadium. They chose the stadium. I think this was back in 2006 or so. It does take some time to get to the TRE station though. Plan accordingly. The buses run about every 15 minutes, and you should allow at least 45 minutes to get down there. A cab will be about $50. Or you can use my old luxury Town Car service, in which I use to work for. That will run you about $80.

At one point, back in the 90's Jerry Jones did go around Irving getting signatures so people would leave DART. Obviously it never worked, but shows you the type of man Jerry is.

 

[George Harris]

Unfortunately, yes, IS. Unlike Minneapolis where you can ride that rail right into the airport, no such new- fangled tech here. A cab could take that long, depending on traffic on "Airport Freeway." Even DART "express" bus to airport requires a transfer, as it is set up mainly for employees, terminating in the remote parking. The DFW airport website homepage doesn't even list a "Public Transportation" type of entry, like most major city airports can, and do list on their website landing page. Instead the DFW landing page touts "The Skylink high-speed train" which is an inter-terminal "monorail" design.

Texas remains a one-person, one-truck (or car) mentality, and I don't know if that will ever change. Humorist Dave Barry said it best, noting "I doubt they [Mexico] could take Texas by force. Texas has the largest fleet of armed pickup trucks of any major power."

Now I like, and really agree with that, but also support public mass transit.

In Houston you can get to both airports by bus.

Downtown and Intercontinental, Metra route 102. Very nice buses.

Hobby shows three bus routes, 50, 73, and 88. Have no experience with these, but from the map it looks likes 50 is the one to use to go downtown.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

From what I hear Arlington doesnt even have buses.

 

[saxman]

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.

 

[Texan Eagle]

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+

 

[Train2104]

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!

 

[Old MM]

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.

 

[Old MM]

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.

 

[Texan Eagle]

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.

 

[saxman]

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.

 

[saxman]

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.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

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.