Friday, June 20, 2008
High gas prices fuel increased DART light rail ridership
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DALLAS — The DMN says DART is reporting increased rail ridership for the second month in a row. Perhaps the lack of available seats on trains explains why DART abstained from offering special deals on Dump the Pump day. New trains with more seats and bike racks will start rolling out this summer.
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Comments
Cody Meador Verified
Yay bike racks!
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
I'm with Cody on this one.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
jtmbls Anonymous
Not that I'm a big fan of France but I did see an interesting piece on the news where they provide not only bike racks but the bikes as well! You get off the train, pick any bike (as they all look the same)to ride to work and drop it back on the rack when you return to the train. Not a bad idea.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Community bicycles have provided many slut jokes in my day. Didn't know that wasn't common knowledge at this point.
Do you honestly think the spoiled little brats in DFW would be so kind to return a perfectly good bicycle for someone else to use?
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Mike Orren Staff
jtmbls, I bet I saw the same one, on Sunday Morning (aka the show that runs before the Chesapeake Barnett Shale informercials).
I couldn't find that bit, but there's another:
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
jtmbls Anonymous
Yes, those are the bikes! How great would that be?
Doyle - These are for grown-ups. I would certainly hope that the average business man or woman in Dallas has the common decency to treat such a system with respect. But then not much surprises me anymore. Except that bug thing from earlier. That caught me off guard.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
twisteddog Anonymous
Community bikes just turn into scrap metal, unfortunately.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
jtmbls Anonymous
What is the average life span of a community bike then?
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
No clue what the life-span would be, but spoiled brats applies to DFW grown peeps too. Otherwise every other vehicle wouldn't be an SUV.
Hobos alone would have a field day with this.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
stu42j Anonymous
This is the first I've heard of bike racks on the trains. I wonder if this DMN article is confused with the bike racks being added to the buses.
I don't have too much of a problem with standing on the train but most of the current standing room is in the aisles and door ways. This makes it difficult for people to get on and off a crowded train.
It would be more efficient if the seats were arranged along the walls. You'd have fewer seats but room for more total passengers and make it easier to get on and off. The new Super cars should help, though.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
stu42j Anonymous
Just got a clarification from DART. The new train cars "will have bike hooks inside where customers may hang their bikes".
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
xdavidwattsx Anonymous
Yeah, people are too dumb to move to the middle of the train when it is full thereby crowding the entryways.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
AviAdelman Anonymous
In Denver, the busses (sp?) have bike racks mounted on the front of the bus under the window.
The program is called Bike-N-Ride.
http://www.rtd-denver.com/SpecialRide...
Hello, DART, you paying attention??
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Chris Kidd Verified
Why we havent adopted a Bus-N-Ride program, hell, even dedicated signaled bike lanes both in downtown dallas/ft. worth and on major streets is a question I like answered. If this is going to become a true "urban" home for folks, we need to get rid of the Texas Redneck mentality of seeing bike riders as cannon fodder to run down with their gas guzzling Ford F150s.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Catherine Cuellar Verified
My best advice to cyclists is to plan your route along one-way streets and residential streets with speed bumps. In downtown Dallas, if you're pedaling on a one-way street like Commerce or Elm, there are several lanes people can use to drive around you. In neighborhoods, streets with speed bumps have less vehicular traffic, and the cars that are driving slowly are more likely to notice bikes (though it's still the cyclist's responsibility to be visible). Bike lanes would be better for sure, but there are plenty of alternate routes that make urban cycling possible (if not comfortable) at present.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Clay213 Anonymous
Avi and Chris are behind the times..
Bikes are already allowed on DART busses. Or are you just demanding they come up with some cutesy name for it?
Why anyone would ever want to ride on a bus if they have a bike, I will never know though.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
Clay213: Because not everyone wants to spend an hour and a half every morning and every afternoon on a bicycle.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Clay, b/c if you live relatively close to a train station and your destination is a considerable distance away, it's perfect. Rather than bus it or park-n-ride, bike it.
Proximity to a train station might be a pretty large factor in where I decide to live after this lease, actually.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Clay213 Anonymous
Riding a bike is faster than any bus. Unless the bus makes no stops and only goes on a freeway.
Why would you want to spend an hour and a half on a bus?
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
snowboard9 Anonymous
Very happy to hear this. Hopefully, there will be DART service to DFW airport in my lifetime. Imagine that, a major city with mass transit to its airport.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
Uhh, I agree with Clay - meant to address Pavel. Also, no idea why Pavel doesn't see the benefit of bike over bus since he rides his bike a lot of places.
Either way, hook isn't quite the same as bike rack. stu, what's your source on that?
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
Clay: Sure, but if my choice was 45 minutes on bike or an hour and a half on bus, I'd probably opt for the bus. I could read, I could work, and I wouldn't fear for my life...
All depends on my available options. Not saying that I'd ONLY ride the bus or ONLY ride my bike.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
David Gouldin Staff
Scott, source is the linked story in the Bike DFW's petition article.
"Dallas Area Rapid Transit, for instance, allows bicycles on buses and trains at all hours. And the agency will begin installing bike racks on its bus fleet and at bus stops this summer."
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Mike Orren Staff
Montreal has a public bike system too-- and uses RFID to prevent theft and manage inventory online:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/22/mo...
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Scott Doyle Verified
David, I meant source on hooks versus actual racks.
Miko, I simply don't see it working out in Dallas. First, the metroplex is way too spread out for biking to be an alternative a lot of people will accept. Second, it's goddamn hot here 5 months out of the year. Third, Dallasites obviously don't treat public property with as much respect as other areas.
I'll believe it when I see it, basically.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
jtmbls Anonymous
Oh come on Doyle - You make us sound like a bunch of heathens unlike anywhere else. Look at what New Yorkers did to the subway system in their city. It's not just "Dallasites". But I guess the first time I get a bike some homeless guy pees on I'm pretty much done...
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
You'll be lucky if urine is the only thing the bike is covered in. You basically picked the cleanest bodily fluid a hobo could eject onto a surface.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
Maybe Dallas needs public showers and anti-perspirant dispensers, too.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Pavel Lishin Verified
I suggest that we install hose-booths. You get in, put in a dollar, and you get a 60-second stream of water that you can aim at homeless passers-by. It would be a valuable source of revenue, it would help with hygiene issues, and hosing down hobos is just plain ol' fun.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
stu42j Anonymous
Scott: I got that info from the Media Relations dept at DART. I also saw them myself on the train this morning. Across from the wheelchair area, there are a pair of seats that flip up and a hook above your head to hang your bike by the wheel. Good luck getting access to it if the train is full.
They also had a bar going down the middle of the door way on this new train car. I assume this is to prevent wheelchairs from going on until all of the stations are retrofitted for the low-floor but it might make it more difficult for bikes to get on as well.
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
jtmbls Anonymous
LMAO - How is it that we manage to bring every topic back to the same elementary level? I love this place!
1 year, 4 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
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