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10/28/2009, 08:27 AM
From the Dallas Morning News
Oh yeah, should be a blast...:D
08:03 AM CDT on Wednesday, October 28, 2009
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]
DART board members said Tuesday that the agency has little to apologize for in the delays experienced by thousands of fans who overwhelmed the rail system on Oct. 17. Tens of thousands of football fans found themselves stranded, often for hours, as DART scrambled to provide service to Fair Park on the final weekend of the State Fair of Texas.
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"I think you and DART did a wonderful job," former board chairman Randall Chrisman of Carrollton told President Gary Thomas after he presented a lengthy report on what went wrong. "The staff did an incredible job."
Chrisman's support for Thomas was widely echoed by other board members. Several expressed doubt that the agency would ever be able to smoothly handle the size of the crowds that showed up Oct. 17, when about 40,000 fairgoers rode light rail.
"I think the staff did an excellent job," Dallas board member Jerry Christian said. "I honestly don't think you can rectify this situation in a way that is going to satisfy everybody."
Even packed full of riders, Dallas Area Rapid Transit trains can only reasonably handle about 5,000 passengers per hour.
Nevertheless, Thomas said the agency hopes to do better next year. He warned board members that the timing of the 2010 Texas-Oklahoma football game will make the crowds an even bigger challenge.
Next year, it's an evening game, with all 95,000 or so football fans letting out just about the time the final crowds from the State Fair will be seeking to leave.
Thomas offered no fresh apology for the delays during the football game, and stressed that overall service on the new Green Line during the State Fair was a rousing success.
"Oct. 17 was a little bit more challenging," he said. "Obviously there were a lot more people than we expected. ... We've apologized for the delay publicly. And we are disappointed in what happened," Thomas said.
"We began planning for this process almost a year ago," Thomas told board members. The staff simply underestimated how many fans would want to ride the new Green Line to Fair Park.
Thomas said staff had anticipated only about a 50 percent increase in use of light rail to get to the game over the demand from last year, when about 15,000 passengers rode the Red Line downtown and then took a shuttle to Fair Park.
But instead of the 22,500 or so round trips DART had planned for, some 40,000 fairgoers crowded on the rail lines. Some trains arrived at Fair Park with 460 passengers, more than 2.5 times as many seats as were available – and nearly 100 more than the busiest trips experienced during DART's record ridership boom when gas prices soared in 2008.
DART board members who spoke at Tuesday's meeting, while offering a number of suggestions, were unanimous in their support for the agency and for Thomas' handling of the busy day.
"In some ways, we are victims of our own success," Dallas board member Scott Carlson said. "And my guess is we are not going to have quite as many people riding light rail at next year's game based on their experience this time."
John Carter Danish of Irving said the crowds proved at least one thing: "We used to hear that we're never going to be able to get Texans out of their pickup trucks. Well, if nothing else, this shows that we can get Texans and Oklahomans out of their pickup trucks."
Thomas said the agency will study what went wrong for another month or so. Planning on how to handle the event next year will follow soon after, he said. He said it's possible the agency may be able to work out a deal with Union Pacific Railroad to run Trinity Railway Express commuter trains straight to Fair Park, ending one major source of the delays this year. In addition, he said DART will offer back-up shuttles for next year, a plan that was considered for this year but discarded as unnecessary.
But even with a roster full of improvements, board members cautioned that the light rail service is unlikely to ever be able to handle the kind of demand that showed up Oct. 17.
Christian said one solution may be to sell tickets in advance, and simply turn would-be passengers away once the system's capacity is reached.
Dallas board member Pamela Dunlop Gates said that no matter how the agency changes its plans for next year, it needs to do a better job telling riders how long it could take to get to Fair Park.
"We have got to manage expectations," she said.
Oh yeah, should be a blast...:D
08:03 AM CDT on Wednesday, October 28, 2009
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]
DART board members said Tuesday that the agency has little to apologize for in the delays experienced by thousands of fans who overwhelmed the rail system on Oct. 17. Tens of thousands of football fans found themselves stranded, often for hours, as DART scrambled to provide service to Fair Park on the final weekend of the State Fair of Texas.
Get transit and transportation news
"I think you and DART did a wonderful job," former board chairman Randall Chrisman of Carrollton told President Gary Thomas after he presented a lengthy report on what went wrong. "The staff did an incredible job."
Chrisman's support for Thomas was widely echoed by other board members. Several expressed doubt that the agency would ever be able to smoothly handle the size of the crowds that showed up Oct. 17, when about 40,000 fairgoers rode light rail.
"I think the staff did an excellent job," Dallas board member Jerry Christian said. "I honestly don't think you can rectify this situation in a way that is going to satisfy everybody."
Even packed full of riders, Dallas Area Rapid Transit trains can only reasonably handle about 5,000 passengers per hour.
Nevertheless, Thomas said the agency hopes to do better next year. He warned board members that the timing of the 2010 Texas-Oklahoma football game will make the crowds an even bigger challenge.
Next year, it's an evening game, with all 95,000 or so football fans letting out just about the time the final crowds from the State Fair will be seeking to leave.
Thomas offered no fresh apology for the delays during the football game, and stressed that overall service on the new Green Line during the State Fair was a rousing success.
"Oct. 17 was a little bit more challenging," he said. "Obviously there were a lot more people than we expected. ... We've apologized for the delay publicly. And we are disappointed in what happened," Thomas said.
"We began planning for this process almost a year ago," Thomas told board members. The staff simply underestimated how many fans would want to ride the new Green Line to Fair Park.
Thomas said staff had anticipated only about a 50 percent increase in use of light rail to get to the game over the demand from last year, when about 15,000 passengers rode the Red Line downtown and then took a shuttle to Fair Park.
But instead of the 22,500 or so round trips DART had planned for, some 40,000 fairgoers crowded on the rail lines. Some trains arrived at Fair Park with 460 passengers, more than 2.5 times as many seats as were available – and nearly 100 more than the busiest trips experienced during DART's record ridership boom when gas prices soared in 2008.
DART board members who spoke at Tuesday's meeting, while offering a number of suggestions, were unanimous in their support for the agency and for Thomas' handling of the busy day.
"In some ways, we are victims of our own success," Dallas board member Scott Carlson said. "And my guess is we are not going to have quite as many people riding light rail at next year's game based on their experience this time."
John Carter Danish of Irving said the crowds proved at least one thing: "We used to hear that we're never going to be able to get Texans out of their pickup trucks. Well, if nothing else, this shows that we can get Texans and Oklahomans out of their pickup trucks."
Thomas said the agency will study what went wrong for another month or so. Planning on how to handle the event next year will follow soon after, he said. He said it's possible the agency may be able to work out a deal with Union Pacific Railroad to run Trinity Railway Express commuter trains straight to Fair Park, ending one major source of the delays this year. In addition, he said DART will offer back-up shuttles for next year, a plan that was considered for this year but discarded as unnecessary.
But even with a roster full of improvements, board members cautioned that the light rail service is unlikely to ever be able to handle the kind of demand that showed up Oct. 17.
Christian said one solution may be to sell tickets in advance, and simply turn would-be passengers away once the system's capacity is reached.
Dallas board member Pamela Dunlop Gates said that no matter how the agency changes its plans for next year, it needs to do a better job telling riders how long it could take to get to Fair Park.
"We have got to manage expectations," she said.