Of all the Texan suburbs to appear on a list like this, Flower Mound?!

Last month, the Railway Safety Act was reintroduced to Congress. So how safe are the railroads? And how can we make them safer? My latest, out now on Substack and Medium: open.substack.com/pub/thetexan...

East Texas After Oil/Sleeping Giants by Olin Herman Travis, 1936.

Your daily reminder that the fastest Dallas-to-Houston trains did the whole 280-mile run in 4 hours flat, often going faster than 100 mph. They managed to do this in the 1930s, with trainsets powered by V8s only capable of 600 horsepower but that still weighed 12,000 pounds.

These murals at Fair Park here in Dallas always struck me as very Soviet-esque.

Hey @nogodsnomayors.com, you gone to Texas yet?

The Dallas Way

Literally nothing ever changes [Dallas]

Why is it snowing again?!

Equipment is on the move from Minneapolis to Dallas. BNSF is currently bringing cars from the now-defunct Northstar commuter rail line down south to Dallas for service on the Trinity Railway Express during the World Cup.

I have seen government agencies create transit maps you wouldn't believe 2.0

Spoke about a similar idea on Loserville yesterday. People in power, especially at the local level, might be benevolent, but they don't necessarily have the background or incentives to think about transit at the necessary scale.

Good discussion on DART with @thetexanrhino.bsky.social on the Loserville podcast open.spotify.com/episode/6kiA...

I went on a podcast! Go listen to the Loserville guys and me talk DART, regional transit, and whatever possessed Dallas in 1983 to plan a transit system that looked like this: open.spotify.com/episode/6kiA...

I've said it before but man I really love the work the team at @dmagazine.bsky.social does. I don't even live in Dallas but the morning live blog they run is such a great way to get news, I always find something neat. shoutout @txnewsprincess.bsky.social too www.dmagazine.com/micropost/wh...

The proofs are in and the publication date is set! “Transportation and the Shape of Cities” will be available this August from @islandpress.bsky.social, an imprint of . @princetonupress.bsky.social. press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

A new report reveals how BNSF continues to prioritize owner profits over investing in itself, even as the railroad industry loses market share and the race to net zero. open.substack.com/pub/thetexan...

One day I will write the "DART should have been an S-Bahn" rant.

Strangely enough, I think my positions on the D2/Dallas Streetcar/Silver Line debate are the opposite of what most people's positions at the time were.

Some graphs about DART

Reminder that the Dallas Streetcar (the Oak Cliff one) gets about half of the ridership of the average DART bus route for almost double the cost per passenger trip.

Is now a good time to mention I think the American aesthetic peaked during the '79 oil crisis?

how it feels taking public transit rn

According to AAA, average gas prices in Texas have risen 10 cents since yesterday, a total increase of 38 cents this week.

Happy to be launching my new YouTube channel, Ren in Transit! Where the slots are liberal, Melinda treats you right, and the basque food is 🤌

oh, ok!

New for @comissourian.bsky.social: The University of Missouri is bringing most remote and hybrid employees back to campus next semester, stating that an in-person workforce "better serves our students." www.columbiamissourian.com/news/local/m...

Why would you try to have bunnies on a bus when instead you could just convert the whole bus into a bunny? Complete Dallas Transit System victory here.

While only 3 of 6 cities voted to call off their elections, the cities that did were far larger. The original group: 25% of the DART service area population 22% of its land area 31% of its sales tax revenues Updated group: 2% of the population 1% of the land 4% of the sales tax

The City of Irving has just voted to cancel its DART withdrawal election after the transit agency proposed a deal to cities earlier this month. The tally is now: Election called off: Plano, Farmers Branch, Irving Election going ahead: Addison, Highland Park, University Park

First time hearing SEPTA, of all things, mentioned in a Texan city council meeting.

Amtrak is no longer going to seek its ageing superliners with new bi-level cars. www.trains.com/pro/mechanic...

This morning, Dallas City Council member Adam Bazaldua posted to FB this memo from Sports Mayor, which calls for a vote on City Hall's fate next week. The CM adds: "This process is a joke and an insult to our taxpayers. I hope the voters are paying attention to this Mavericks/City Hall boondoggle!!"

Some mixed news coming out of the suburbs for DART tonight. During nearly simultaneous City Council meetings, the City of Farmers Branch voted to call off its withdrawal election, while the City of Addison chose to keep DART on the ballot.

New for @comissourian.bsky.social: A Lincoln University student has been arrested after a domestic dispute Monday night led to the death of a fellow student. www.columbiamissourian.com/news/higher_...

Some Dallas stuff: If the city of Dallas sells its city hall that it failed to maintain, the city will only be able to put forward 50% of the proceeds toward a new one because of a narrowly approved proposition funded by a right-wing megadonor that puts 50% of new revenue into police budgets. 1/

The Plano City Council has chosen to cancel its DART withdrawal election and accept a deal with the transit agency. More cities are set to make the same decision later this week.

Very strange that the McAllen metro area has more people than the El Paso metro area. El Paso has always rounded out the list of "Big Texas Cities" to me.

Very good recap here of the recent DART news and the hurdles that remain for creating a regional transit agency.

BREAKING: Majestic Realty, who owns one of the warehouses ICE was planning to purchase to create a detention camp, announced today that it would not sell to the agency. More at DMagazine.com shortly.

Some interesting things are going on here: 1. DART has become a high-profile enough issue that it is being mentioned in ads for state-level political positions. 2. The campaign for Mamdani-esque fareless transit looks to be spreading.

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone. If I could, I’d give each of you a card and line of coke on a toilet seat.

One of my favorite bits of railroad writing. Fortune Magazine on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1936:

The Regional Transportation Council voted Thursday to commit funds to DART’s plan to give some resources back to cities, a proposal some suburban leaders said could convince them to cancel May elections on cutting ties with the public transportation agency.

New deals between DART and its member cities are finally starting to materialize, bringing the once far-off ideas of new funding sources and a regional transit authority into the light. But can DART get it all across the finish line while peace lasts? My latest for @dmagazine.bsky.social:

San Antonio streetcar 300 rolls across a creek, 1984. The streetcar was operated for tourists by the San Antonio Art Museum, but the service wouldn't last long, and the restored car would eventually find a home running in Astoria, Oregon. Photograph by Henry Petermann.

The DART Board is meeting right now. The key item today is the "Briefing on City and Regional Proposals Related to Governance, Funding, and Service," which is coming up soon. dart.org/about/public...

Two Trinity Railway Express trains roll past each other in Irving. While the TRE right-of-way is mostly double-tracked, some single-tracked sections create bottlenecks, an issue given the amount of both passenger and freight traffic the line gets. Photograph by Jadon Henderson.

Based on this timeline for tabling the vote and Via's estimates for a 6-week startup time, this puts the alternative transit service start date at around April 6th.

Plano City Council has postponed voting on alternative transit services to the 23rd to continue negotiating with DART, saying they have seen a proposal from the DART Board Chair Randall Bryant, which they consider “meaningful.”