The misleading claims of the campaign against DART in the Park Cities
“Lies, damned lies, and statistics” - Mark Twain
First, I will preface this by stating that “No” campaigns are taking liberties by using data from Highland Park or University Park only at times, while also speaking about both towns. I will try to address both towns, even though they are technically separate voting districts.
The “No” campaign has spent about $20k this election cycle in Highland Park, pushing their NoToDART campaign and website through digital and print ads. I wanted to address their core claims.
Claim - We get 30¢ on the dollar.
This is a claim based on an independent study by EY (Ernst and Young) commissioned and approved by the politically appointed DART board. Most studies and surveys on transit focus on a specific service radius around bus stops and rail stations. This study purposefully included only services within the town's borders. It excluded the light rail lines and bus lines outside the town’s borders.
The underlying question to be answered here: Does a rail station only affect the land under it, or everyone that lives within a half mile?
Generally, it also just erroneously excluded the 440 and 442, the SMU shuttles, route 20 NW Highway, and the 207 Lemmon. DART Staff (not the Board) informed towns that the EY study contained errors, but some member cities have ignored them.
Previous general overview with routes in and around the park cities
Claim - The service Highland Park receives has steadily diminished.
This is really just playing on people who don’t use or don’t know about the DART service. They are also only citing Highland Park routes here. “two of the four bus routes have been removed,” they cite, still exist. One of the routes they cite as removed was changed to the 207 Lemmon route. It still runs and stops at the south side of Highland Park. The other was the SMU shuttle. This still exists, but the stop at Airline and Mockingbird was moved about 10 meters away from the intersection (Which is safer and doesn’t block the intersection), putting it up. The stop at Hillcrest and Mockingbird was moved 1 block north to University Park to avoid blocking the intersection.
DART has also implemented GoLink in towns over the last few years and expanded it at our towns' request so that it can take you directly to the DART Love Field shuttle at Inwood Love Field Station and to the Knox area.
Also, saying we get no rail service when we advocated for the current alignment of SMU/Mockingbird and Lovers Lane stations, 200 meters outside our towns, is just dishonest to me.
Claim - Our voice in DART’s governance has been minimal.
This is an issue for both towns, but is framed as a Highland Park issue. What they leave out is that DART and its member cities have adopted a governance reform plan. Dallas has agreed to reduce its board representation to 45% (Dallas is 52% of DART’s population), and every member will have a full seat with a vote commensurate with their size. It is a fractional vote, but under this model, HP would have a board representative vote share that is 4 times our population and 2 times our current financial contribution. The claim they make begs the question: Do they believe Highland Park, a town of ~9000 residents, should have the same voting size on the board as Plano, with its ~4000,000 residents? In my opinion, that is not democratic. We should have a bigger say in how DART runs, but surely not that much?
Claim - The financial imbalance is significant, & The fiscal pressure on our town is real
This point speaks to municipal finance and debt. DART issues bonds for large capital projects; their current outstanding bonds can be found on their investor relations site. In broad strokes, DART issued large bonds during the height of COVID when interest rates were very low. They were both to refinance existing bonds from rail construction in the late 00’s and early 10’s, for system expansion (Silver Line) and large capital projects like refreshing their aging bus and rail fleet, among other things.
The current bonded debt has an all-in interest rate of 2.945%. They have a large total debt, but thanks to smart financial forecasting, they are paying a very low interest rate on it. Their bonds are also all rated AAA and AA by the ratings agencies. There is no debt crisis at DART
Secondly, addressing the competitive disadvantage to other towns. Highland Park raises almost $6500 in revenue per resident, which is almost twice the area average. I don’t really understand how anyone can argue that the town is struggling financially. HP should not have budget problems given the tax revenue they currently raise.
University Park, on the other hand, does not exceed the area average in revenue. They raise about $ 2,800 per resident, which is less than most other cities, even though property values per capita are much higher in University Park. I believe that is mainly down to the inordinate property tax break they give to people over 65. I’m not opposed to the senior homestead exemption, but University Park’s exemption is more than 7 times larger than Dallas's and 14 times larger than Highland Park's. The latest census has shown that both towns are aging. It is an issue worth discussing because the imbalance appears to be growing, placing a strain on how University Park conducts its business.
University Park spends less on capital projects like road maintenance and sewers than Highland Park, a town with a 3rd its population.
Claim - No Rider Will be Left Behind.
Both towns have now signed an agreement with Via for Paratransit, and Highland Park has also signed on for microtransit (similar to DART GoLink). Both towns have contracted with Via transportation. Among riders I know, there is an overwhelmingly negative opinion of Via’s services in Arlington. By the numbers, Arlington pays more per ride and has longer wait times than DART. They have seen a 30% decrease in ridership over the last 2 years due to poor service quality, and their fleet of 90 vehicles carries fewer people per year than many DART bus lines do individually. I have only seen the draft of UP’s contract with Via, and some things have changed. One thing that hasn’t changed is that they only have 4 vehicles to service up, but will extend coverage to all 700 square miles of the DART service area. I do not know how they expect this to work, and fear they will get the dreaded “we’re busy right now, try again later” via users in Arlington know too well.
I do not know how many vehicles Highland Park has agreed to; I’m still waiting on a records request because I couldn’t make their 8 am town council meetings. Given the total financial outlay for the town council agenda item, they voted on and stated they will serve the DART service area, like University Park, I'd imagine it won't be much different from them.
When Vias’ service is overwhelmed, they have a fleet of almost 100 vans. It has become a meme among transit riders locally
I intend to publish one or two more article here about these issues If you want to give us a follow, its ’s free.