advertisement

---

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) have fare-changing plans in the works for later this year.

DART will introduce a new fare structure that will “streamline” the bus-to-train transfer process and establish a new midday pass, DART officials said in a prepared statement.

The new DART fare structure will take effect Dec. 3, when the agency opens the second section of the Orange Line light-rail route from Las Colinas to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport property, and the Blue Line extension linking Garland and Rowlett.

The new structure will include a two-hour pass for $2.50 that will replace the current $1.75 single-ride ticket. The pass will allow riders to use any DART bus or rail service or the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) between Union and CentrePort/DFW Airport stations during a two-hour period with a single pass. Riders will be able to use the new midday pass, to cost $1.75 for a local pass and $3.50 for a regional pass, between 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The midday pass is designed to encourage ridership when the system has additional capacity, DART officials said.

Meanwhile, The T will hold three public meetings on Sept. 11 to solicit input on proposed increases in some fares for bus, mobility impaired services and the TRE, officials said in a prepared statement. The new fares would take effect Dec. 2.

The plan calls for the TRE’s reduced regional day pass to increase 50 cents, but other TRE fares would decrease.

The fare changes are necessary “to maintain current service levels and add the capacity to meet this area’s growing transit needs,” The T’s President Dick Ruddell said.