DART-ing to the airport (Part 2)

(In the spirit of Christmas, I write this post with gratitude to my neighbors who were forced to finance about 3/4 of my public transit trip. Thank you! Read part 1 here. )

...The only notable observation as the train emerged from the tunnel into downtown was a yuppie couple walking their dog. Dallas has been making an effort to bring residents back into the downtown area with some success.

At Union Station downtown I had to switch from the DART light rail to the TRE (commuter train heading to the airport). I had never been to Union Station in Dallas and was not sure what to expect. Fortunately, all trains run on only two tracks, right next to each other. There are no different platforms to find for different trains and different destination. One only needs to make sure to get on the train going in the right direction. A man asked me what time the Blue Line train was coming, heading south. As I was running my finger down the schedule posted near the ticket vending machine, the man expressed surprise that that , actually, was a schedule. I didn’t know if he’d been this close to the ticket machine before.

The TRE commuter train arrived shortly; we boarded to stay warm during the 20 minutes to departure. Almost every seat was eventually occupied, and there were several people traveling standing. In 2007 the TRE carried a total of 2.5 million passengers. On an average weekday last month it carried more than 10,500. It took 30 minutes to reach Centerport station, halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth and nearest to the airport. A shuttle bus was waiting, a pleasant surprise given that the online schedule (on the TRE website, not on Google Maps) showed I’d have to wait 20 minutes for the shuttle. According to the driver they usually wait for five minutes past the TRE’s scheduled arrival time at the station (if the train is late) to pick up passengers for the airport. The shuttle technically goes to the airport, but in fact we were deposited at the Remote South parking lot, from which the final leg of the journey is effected on the intra-airport shuttles, depending on which terminal ones has to go to.

The entire trip, from locking my front door to lining up to check in luggage (Northwest Airlines now charges $15 for the first checked bag) cost me $5 and took two hours. The same one-way trip in a taxi costs $50 and takes 40 minutes. A friend can drive you “for free”, though the round trip would take two gallons of gas and, when you add the airport entry fee, the real price approximates the public transportation fare.

I was pleasantly surprised by my experience: although it took longer than the alternatives, it was by far the most relaxing way to accomplish the trip. And I was able to do productive work on my computer for most of that time. The only thing is, next time I will use Google (a private company) to do my trip planning on the DART system (a public organization).

And then I wonder if we shouldn’t just let Google run our public transit. I mean, my trip cost me $5 and it cost the taxpayers in Dallas around $13.50 in subsidies. (Thank you, neighbors, for paying for most of my trip!) Maybe this helps explain why my property taxes went up 10% this year when housing values (on which the taxes are based) are crashing. So I say, let Google run DART! I won’t mind looking at some targeted text ads inside the train while I’m riding for free, saving $5, saving Dallas taxpayers another $13.50, and saving Lee from his worries of being caught (again) without a ticket.