At Bachman Station Today, DART Announces Greenlight for the Green Line

• If Wilonsky really wanted to take a shot at a Republican, he would've said something about Tim O'Hare demanding to see Bill Velasco's citizenship papers... or something like that.

• Artieart, thanks for the kind words. And let me explain: In this instance, I'm serious -- the mayor's got nice Oakleys, he's been known to wear 'em at public occasions, and on a day like yesterday they clearly would have come in awful handy. Me, I never step outside without my sunglasses.

• RW: I judge you to be one of the best journalists in this city. Your vigilant watch over the day to day business of the city is commendable. I really appreciate your work. However, for the life of me, I don't understand why you (seemingly at every turn) have to take some (usually snarky, at times blatantly ad hominem) sort of shot at anyone who doesn't hold the same political purview as yourself--e.g., our Republican mayor. Not only do these digs take away from your otherwise excellent reporting and commentary(ies), but also they aren't very clever.

• Apparently the naysayers don't drive on I-35 in rush hour. Try going from Dallas to Denton during those hours. Or heck, any hour of the day sometimes. And once they actually start expanding I-35 the construction will just make it worse. The Green Line + DCTA's line in Denton County make it a more viable option to ride the rail. Otherwise, remain stationary on I-35.

• Part 1: Okay, DART-naysayers: Name one major city worldwide that does NOT have mass transit rail. Part 2: Name one mass transit rail system that makes a profit.

• I ride the train at non-peak times, and they're usually still pretty crowded - often SRO from downtown until at least Forest Lane or so. It's not until Richardson/Plano that it really thins out when I'm riding (I'm sure the Plano part of the corridor is much fuller during regular rush hour times). I know that's anecdotal, but still....

• Hannibal, If you drive to work, shouldn't you thank taxpayers for picking up 100% of the cost?

• Rail ridership has continued to increase since the Gas shocks (brought to you by Goldman Sachs) of 2007. Over all Gasoline demand has shrunk by 5% in the US. When gas prices rise again sharply, for real supply and demand reasons, not mere speculation ridership will rise sharply. It's really cute to argue that an incomplete system is not fully functional. As DART's scope and saturation grow, as trolleys and other mass transit further expands the mass transit envelope so will ridership. So sorry we couldn't just open the box these rail systems come in and install it under the Christmas tree or you. These systems take a score (twenty years) to build in. Perhaps you should adapt your arguments for the abortion discussion. Hell, you've had that kid for 5 years and he still ain't got a job, get it aborted in the 23rd trimester.

• The original estimate for traffic on the Trinity Tollroad 15 years ago was 60,000 vehicles a day. That was when the cost for the project was $600 million and projected tolls would start at $2. I would imagine the cost for tolls would be much higher since the cost has more than tripled since proposed. Even at $100 million a mile, light rail is cheaper than the tollroad and will carry more people at rush hour. Plus, the train won't have to worry about flooding issues.

• What were the daily traffic estimates for the 10-mile, $2 billion Trinity Toll Road?

• Hannibal, catchy one liners are nice, if not quite factual. I ran a linear regression analysis concerning rail expansion, gas price increases, fare increases and the state of the economy on DART's ridership numbers. The first two increased ridership as they increased, the second two decreased. I am really interested in rerunning the numbers a couple of quarters after the Green Line fully opens. I am also tweaking the analysis to see if new route mileage added on rail makes a difference. My hypothesis is that the higher number of miles added (4 miles for the first segment versus 20 or so for the second) will have a greater increase than small incremental additions. There has been extreme ridership increases since 2007, close to 20%. Ridership has retreated since the economy tanked and gas prices retreated. However, ridership has not retreated to the similar gas price levels seen before 2007. That indicates as people were "forced" to ride DART, they stuck with it even as gas lowered. The model shows thousands of new riders for every dollar increase in gas, by far the most significant variable. But, to sum up that there are new riders when a new route or addition opens, then it retreats is categorically false.

• DARTs light rail, is the 8th most used commuter rail line in the country. It serves about 70,000 people a day. That number will likely jump to around 90,000 when the greenline is completed. It serves A LOT of people. Get your facts straight.

• Regarding Hannibal Lecter, I think what he meant to say is "you'll get my SUV when you pry it out of my cold dead hands".

• @Hannibal I thank all taxpayers that have purchased anything and thereby paid the 1 cent DART sales tax in a DART member city since they began collecting the tax in January 1984. I have lived in Dallas/Richardson for the past 26 years and purchased hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of goods and services for which I gave DART 1%. I'm not sure what else I can do.

• Project Pegasus is expected to cost $500 million, and that's just to upgrade a couple of bridges/interchanges. And at the zero dollars that each driver that will pass through that corridor every day will pay, it will take infinity years to pay that off.

• 1.8 billion that was taken out to pay for this line. At most DART has projected 10,000 extra riders PER YEAR. At say $4 a ticket (if paying full fare for each rider) that amounts to only $40K per year. Meaning it would take 45,000 years to pay this thing off from the fees collected from tickets. This of course doesn't include the costs of running the thing, maintenance, employees, DART police to patrol it, etc etc etc. Still think it's worth it? How about we promise Toyota to buy 1.8 billion worth of priuses if they agree to build a plant in S. Dallas? Thus creating thousands of jobs in a needed part of town. Then we have our own clunker trade in for residents that promise to live in Dallas for 5 years and agree to do 50 hrs of "volunteer" work picking up trash per year. What do you think will help the environment more? A big 20 mile rail line sucking electricity for empty train cars or getting rid of old cars and replacing them with efficient ones?

• @Hannibal, You mean like those roads you drive on everyday? Those taxpayer funded roads for which there is no per use charge?

• @LaceyB: DART's ridership has generally trended down since inception, except for years they opened new rail lines. In those years ridership increased, then started back down the next year. Because of population growth, it's market share has decreased substantially. @Barney: Of course it's a good deal -- to you. But shouldn't you thank the taxpayers for picking up 85% of the operating costs and all of the capital costs of your daily ride?

• I take the DART Blue line from the White Rock station to work downtown and it is a pretty good deal (my employer subsidizes a large portion of the DART pass plus no more paying $70 a month to park in a garage and I only need to gas up once a month). I'm waiting for the Observer's take on the bomb DART dropped earlier this week. The DMNs article had some basic information but also raised a lot of questions.

• Have there been any studies done that show that people's usage of the dart has increased since expansion? Or, at least, are using their cars any less? Seems like an awful lot of money to be pouring in, but I do like the idea, for sure.

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