DART Dallas Area Rapid Transit

I love the idea of rapid transit. I use ours a lot. I don't own a car. That doesn't mean I don't have problems. Some of the problems end up on this page.

The thing I like most about not owning a car is the lack of random risk, like hail storms and people driving into my side. The thing I like least about auto commuting is the constant assessment of which route that might be good one day is bad the next - I have to spend all my time driving. On the bus I can read, draw, think thoughts. Both places I can listen to my choice in music, although the car is often purer and quieter sound. Of course, owning a car means you can leave any time.

The short term problems that I do little about except move my seat choice are the noisy talkers, the cell phone users, and the strange behaving drunks or druggies that occasionally show up. I don't find anyone on the bus as threatening as some of the drivers out on the street and on the bus I have a driver who can call cops if necessary.

What really bugs me is continuing bad timing on arrivals, especially when it makes me miss the next bus, and continuing bad behavior by a driver.

Right now, 2003-12-18, I am doing battle over the route 29 bus I am trying to catch at 6:15 pm after leaving work at the end of the day. Because my departure time is controlled by when the store clears, I can not catch the next earlier bus 6:07 and the next later I would prefer to keep as a backup, which it is rather too often. DART considers a bus to be late only if it arrives 5 minutes after its scheduled time and will not accept complaints for arriving up to 5 minutes early. We are supposed to arrive at least 5 minutes early at the stop. I keep my digital pocket clock to Standard Time within 10 seconds most of the time.


2003-11-25	6:26 pm		Bus 29 5633 arr. at Clara & Maple, due 6:15
2003-12-01	6:23 pm		Bus 29 4535 arr. Wycliff at 6:26, due 6:17; dntn at 6:42, due 6:32
2003-12-02	6:20 pm		Bus 409 shows up, 29 passes at 6:28 at Oak Lawn
2003-12-06	4:51 pm		Bus 409 5636 shows up, no sign of 29
2003-12-09	6:37 pm		Bus 29 arr. at Main, due 6:32.
2003-12-15	6:21 pm		Bus 409 arrived, no sign of 29, due 6:15
2003-12-16	6:25 pm		Bus 29 4660 finally shows up, due 6:15
	6:41 pm		Bus 29 arr, delayed at Elm arguing with passenger who wanted back door, missed 60 wrong way, cold wind. Due 6:32
2003-12-24			Rent car to morning of 2004-01-05, no bus riding
2004-01-05	6:02 pm		Left work a few minutes early, Bus 29, 5:55 is late, stops as I run toward stop and picks me up to go downtown to use library
2004-01-05	8:02 pm		Arrive at Main and Ervay just as 60 roars through intersection (early) I wave, yell and start running awkwardly as I do, driver pulls to curb and picks up me and another guy also running, saving 1/2 hour wait at 30 degrees
2004-01-06	6:21 pm		Bus 29 unit 4527 arrives late as usual, gets downtown just in time to see 60 roll through Main and Lamar 50 feet ahead of me as I walk to corner
2004-01-07	6:16 pm		I am late from waiting on customer, see 29 bus a couple of blocks up, begin running, wave at bus frantically as I go along Maple about 100 feet from stop in full headlights of bus on curved road in near lane. Driver roars on away, on time for the possibly the first time in months.
2004-01-09	8:37 pm		Bus 29 4345, refuses to allow boarding at Lamar and Elm, inbound, wait in cold wind for it to go around, call DART and confirm supposed to pickup.
2004-01-13	6:02 pm		Bus 29 4328, arrives Clara, due 5:55, allowing me to catch it.
2004-01-14	6:40 pm		Bus 29 4538 arrives dntn, due 6:32
2004-01-14	6:43pm		Bus 60 SG 4816 arrives Griffin late, allowing me to catch.
2004-01-16	6:10 pm		Bus 409 stops as I run across parking lot and picks me up, tho late.
2004-01-17	8:25 am		Bus 29 4701 Lamar and Elm, refuses to pickup and ride around. Call to DART reconfirms pickup is OK, leave report.
2004-01-17	4:52 pm		Bus 29 4543 due, arrives at Clara, 4:54 at Wycliffe
2004-01-17	5:06 pm		Bus 60 crosses in front of me as I walk to Main - late, but would like to have caught it, wait in strong wind, catch 60 on other side to get out of wind.
2004-01-19	7:00 pm		Bus 19 turns out not to finish route on schedule, waits for up to 10 minutes before going to end.
2004-01-20	6:20 pm		Bus 29 4857 arrives late, due 6:15, bus stops half a bus length short of where I am standing
2004-01-20	6:56 pm		Bus 60 4825 Bus late due 6:51 and smells of smoke of cigarettes or cigars.
2004-01-21	6:21 pm		Bus 29 5629 Arrives at Clara, due 6:15. 6:39 at Lamar and Elm due 6:32. Refuses to allow a person to board shouting "Other Side"
2004-01-24	8:15 am 4:47 pm		I will tell you this is a truly astounding day -- the bus 29 gave me no problems in the morning riding around and just sitting there. And in the evening, not only was the bus 29 actually on time, but it got downtown a bit early and the bus 60 was a smidgen late and I caught it so I was home half an hour earlier than I usually am on Saturday.
2004-02-03	6:21 pm		After a couple of days when the 29 was on time or I escaped early enough to catch the 409, today was an adventure. First the 29, vehicle 4410, was 6 minutes late. Then the driver, who drives rough anyway (accelerating and braking abruptly), popped the bus while a customer was pulling money. [Popped=take your foot off the brake, let the bus just get started and step on it again, throwing people around.] This dropped the guy down so he caught himself on the front grab bar in his arm pit. He paid his money, but started a monolog as he walked down the bus which included some foul language and comments about a driver that (apparently) got shot. The driver stopped the bus and kicked the guy off the back door. [see below] So we got downtown to Elm at 6:36 and the driver refused to let me off the back door, so I had to walk to the front of the bus then track back down the side of the bus to get back to Main, where I so often just miss the 60. This time we were so late it didn't matter. The 6:51 60 was somewhat late also.
2004-02-04	6:23 pm		The 409 bus arrived on time - the 29 bus due at 6:15 was behind it at the Maple Motor intersection.
2004-02-14	8:00 am		The morning 60 buses were running EARLY on our only day of snow, so when I arrived more than 6 minutes early, the bus was disappearing around the corner several blocks down. The next bus also arrived early and when I asked if it was very, very late or early, the driver cheerfully said it was because of the weather that he was early. I told him I did not appreciate waiting for half an hour in the snow and cold because he and his fellows could run early and another passenger said that they had to wait 25 minutes because of missing the earlier bus. Happy Valentines Day.
2004-03-02	8:15 am		For both days this week, the 60 driver has been chatting on his hands free cell phone, running so early that he has crossed paths with the 409 before the one I usually catch, so early Monday, I got the earlier one. Last week two different drivers for three days, Monday thru Wed., almost missed the stop I had rung for, stopping at the required stop in front of Fair Park in the middle of the street only after I yelped.
2004-03-03	6:22 pm		I have decided that beyond being late, this driver (bus 29 4872) is both a jerk and a bad driver. Not only does he arrive late, but he pulls his usual trick of stopping half a bus length short of the stop, when most other drivers manage to stop within half a door width. [Bad driver or intentional jerk] I always brace myself after getting on because he will stomp on the gas. He runs up to stops at speed and stops abruptly. Tonight he slanged at several passengers about the way they showed their tickets or climbed aboard. And he still arrived late - 6:37 - downtown, so I got to watch the 60 cross in front of me as I walked toward it. And when I got home, Mr. Myers, VP Bus Operations, from DART had left a message saying they had adjusted the schedule and to call him if it wasn't working.
2004-03-05	2:00 pm		Called the DART Asst.VP of Bus Operations, John J. Myers, as he had mentioned and described the situation above. At least he listened and said to call back if the situation didn't improve. Said they were making some changes to the timing of the bus route immediately to improve the situation.
2004-03-06	7:56 am		The 60 bus crossed in front of me a full ten minutes ahead of time. I called DART on it and got a ride with Ernest instead of waiting half an hour.
2004-03-09 & 10	pm		How to deal with this one? Miracle of miracles - on Tuesday, driven by the same old guy, the 29 bus arrives on time and downtown early (6:29), I catch the 60 after actually waiting a couple of minutes. Then Wednesday, we are back in the groove - late pickup, late downtown - 60 goes by as I am striding to corner!
			Encouraging e-mail response from Myers at DART to letter I wrote.
2004-05-10	6:19 pm	Myers	After several days of different drivers who stopped exactly in front of me, I knew the old guy was back before I looked up when he stopped 15-20 feet short of my location.
2004-05-11	8:15 am 6:21 pm	Myers	Bus 60 #4801 in am was 10 minutes late, bus 29 #5626 in evening rolled past where I was standing about the same distance he usually stops short and was over 5 minutes late.
2004-05-12	6:20 pm	Anise	Bus 490 #4529 stopped at City Place for driver break, driver left both doors open so hot air sweep bus including wheelchair rider who could not change position. Driver gave me dirty look and no answer when I asked if there was a rule about leaving doors open.
2004-05-18	8:33 am 6:23 pm	-	2nd day of revised schedules and routes. a.m. Bus 409 4702 due at Fair Park 8:27, arrived 8:33, stayed late, arrived at work late. p.m. Bus 409 due at 6:12 never showed up, Bus 29 due at Wycliffe at 6:17, arr 6:23, late downtown also, missed 60, good driver hit the mark.
2004-06-04	8:30 am	Kisha	Bus 60 #4328 to downtown, driver playing radio with chatter talk drive time junk.
2004-06-05	8:27 am 8:41 am	Myers	Bus 29 #4527 shows up at Elm and Lamar with "Not In Service" sign in front of bus, thus blocking any attempt to board and wait on the bus during the driver's break. Same bus returns northbound with same driver.