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Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) officials presented proposals for governance reform and addressed funding concerns during the Farmers Branch City Council study session on Tuesday, highlighting potential changes that could give suburban cities more influence in transit decisions.
DART Board Chair Gary Slagel and President and CEO Nadine S. Lee outlined plans to ensure suburban cities like Farmers Branch have a stronger voice in DART operations amid ongoing discussions about funding and representation.
"We've been going through a process of trying to resolve DART's expenditures versus what we do to provide service that is adequate for all the cities," Slagel told council members during the March 18 presentation.
The meeting comes as several DART member cities, including Farmers Branch, have expressed dissatisfaction with their lack of direct representation on the DART board and concerns about Dallas' voting majority.
"The governance thing, we will give our input on, but basically that's got to work through the system and it's kind of the call of the cities as much as anything," Slagel said.
According to DART's presentation, a 2025 Texas Transportation Institute apportionment analysis will propose partial seat grouping options to address representation concerns. The new approach would allow cities with less than one full member to work together to select board representatives, with the DART board recently approving a supermajority vote requirement on service additions.
Council members raised concerns about public safety at the Farmers Branch station, with Councilman Richard Jackson questioning the cleanliness and security measures.
"My primary concern is crime, trash and vagrancy," Jackson said. "I'd really like to hear an update on what you've done."
Lee responded that DART has added 100 transit security officers systemwide and incorporated "clean teams" into the budget. She noted that Farmers Branch has lower incident rates compared to other locations but promised to follow up with more detailed information.
Police Chief Kevin McCoy said that the statistics might not tell the full story, as most calls related to DART station issues come through the city's 911 system rather than DART's channels.
"It still continues to be an ongoing issue for us,” said McCoy. “It's a weekly issue that we're dealing with people coming off the train committing a trespassing issue or theft offense."
Lee highlighted several initiatives specific to Farmers Branch, including:
Mayor Terry Lynne emphasized that the city's discussions with DART have mainly focused on broader policy issues rather than specific service concerns.
"Our comments and focus have been more on policy related to the position of Farmers Branch as a city and its ability to have a voice on the DART board, its ability to have what I would call equity in terms of what we pay into the system versus the benefit that we receive," Lynne said.
The mayor also raised concerns about pending legislation that could affect sales tax collections in Farmers Branch, potentially reducing city revenue by up to $5 million, which would indirectly impact DART funding.
"I think that's something that y'all need to definitely put on your radar and begin lobbying towards," Lynne said to DART officials.
Slagel concluded by noting that DART is participating in the Regional Transportation Council's "Transit 2.0" initiative, which is exploring how to grow the transit system across the region.
"Our goal is to complete our resolution... and the board will have a meeting on Friday [March 21] to work toward that," Slagel said.
The presentation to city council comes as DART continues to navigate proposed legislation that could reduce its sales tax funding, with Slagel expressing hope that internal negotiations could resolve the issues without legislative intervention.
