Honkin' Mad

Bet this dude's commute is longer than yours

Before you question the commitment of today's youth, read about this 19-year-old quest to get to school.
READ IT HERE.

Is commuter rail really good for Earth?

Read this skeptical report from the Cato Institute.
Author Randal O'Toole

Take a virtual tour of a proposed new rail line

Watch a computer simulation showing how the T's proposed new rail line would serve southwest Fort Worth, downtown, the North Side, Grapevine and D/FW Airport. WATCH IT, DUDE

Combo platter of taxes may B needed 4 commuter rail

Regional planners are looking for alternatives to a sales tax increase to pay for a nine-county commuter rail system in Dallas-Fort Worth. Read mo' here

Pic: Combo Platter, Chope's, La Mesa, N.M. www.roadfood.com Mmmm!

TxDot wipes out the graffiti

See those photos of graffiti-laden highways signs two posts below this one? It turns out that TxDot crews were notified of the graffiti Sunday and had painted over the mess by 10 a.m. Monday. TxDot's Jodi Hodges pointed this out.
We take a lot of shots at TxDot here, so it probably doesn't hurt to give 'em credit on this one ...

When's this gonna get cleaned up?

Jamie Terrell, a regular on the Trinity Railway Express, took these pictures in downtown Fort Worth and offered these thoughts:

I’m not sure who I should send this to. We had some visitors from out of town this weekend. Their first and last impressions of Fort Worth were of graffiti-covered cultural rot. I’d love to do my part to get rid of this, but the areas are not (legally) accessible or on private property.

<<<The last thing a visitor sees when leaving Fort Worth on the way to the airport:

(Below) The first thing a visitor to Fort Worth sees when arriving in Fort Worth by train or bus. The graffiti-covered cars below showed up across from the ITC over 2 years ago and have not moved since.

Big business and big trains

Will North Texas'  big businesses' support paying for a regional rail system?

It's a hot question as regional leaders try to bring businesses inthe the discussions. Texas Instruments, Lockheed Martin and others fought a proposal to increase the 8.25 percent sales tax cap to pay for rail.

On Thursday, businesses skipped a meeting to talk about it. READ COVERAGE OF THAT MEETING HERE.

Then on Friday, Fort Worth Councilman Jungus Jordan, who chairs the committee that held the meeting, called to say it was his fault the businesses weren't there. He told business leaders ahead of time that the agenda would mostly include briefings from more than 10 area mayors and council members about their current tax threshholds -- and that while anyone would be welcome to come, attendance would not be mandatory. Only one biz rep, a JcPenney tax attorney, showed up.

Whacha think about a 40-cent/gallon gas tax hike?

Comments anybody? READ THE REPORT HERE

And the S-T STORY HERE

Woman escapes van-train crash in nick of time

Reader Jamie Terrell was aboard the Trinity Railway Express Friday night when the Fort Worth-bound train crashed into a van. Here's Jamie's e-mail recount, and a cellphone photo of the van. The T today verified the accident, which occurred about 6:25 p.m.

"This happened ... on westbound train No. 2935. We were approaching the Calloway Cemetery grade crossing when the train went into emergency. After it stopped one of the passengers noticed the mangled van on the right side of the last car. For those not familiar with the location, Calloway Cemetery Road intersects with a short street and a driveway where at the same point it bisects a double-tracked portion of the TRE south of  Euless. One of the witnesses said that a lady had driven the van into the intersection (it was dark by then), got confused, and made a right turn onto the tracks thinking it was a street and ended up wedged in high-centered. As our train approached she was still trying frantically to move the van when another motorist forced her to get out of the van - and probably saved her life. No one was injured, and after an inspection the train proceeded with a 45 minute delay."

Operation Lifesaver: www.oli.org

If you see something noteworthy on the roads, rails or sidewalks of North Texas, send a quick note to Honkin' Mad at gdickson@star-telegram.com ... Cellphone photos are very welcome, as long as they can be taken safely.

Would you pay higher sales taxes for rail?

Would you pay up to an extra cent in sales tax if the money were used to build a region-wide rail system? How about a half-cent?

I'm sitting in a meeting at the moment in Arlington. Two groups of transportation experts -- the Tarrant Regional Mobility Coalition and Dallas Regional Mobility Coalition -- are having their annual joint meeting.

Their main goal of '08 is to put together a fierce game plan, so that when the state Legislature reconvenes in January 2009 the North Texas region will have a sensible, unified plan to lobby the state for a regional rail tax.

The current state-imposed cap on sales taxes is 8.25 percent.

DART may delay rail service to DFW Airport

The T still plans to bring commuter rail to DFW Airport by 2012, but DART officials say they may have to delay meeting the T with light rail between DFW terminals A and B because of budget problems.READ DART's announcement here

Buses cut through speedway traffic

What kind of buses will you find at Texas Motor Speedway?

Not just this kind: ------------>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

But also this kind ------------->>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Texas Motor Speedway will offer Victory Lane Express bus service during its big racing weekend Nov. 3-4. The buses, operated by the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, aka the T, are given priority access in and out of the speedway by police officers on traffic duty.

Wanna catch one? The pickup and dropoff point is at Tarrant County College-Northwest.

READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE

The speedway can hold more than 200,000 people. How many people typically take the Victory Lane Express:

577 -- November 2005 (first time service offered)

654 -- April 2006

557 November 2006

743 April 2007

-- Gordon.

Photos: Khampa Bouaphanh, Jessica Kourkounis.

New train in Tarrant County

A new commuter rail line is coming to Tarrant County ... maybe ... Do you support this train concept?

Read the overview here.

Wanna know if there's a whistle stop in your neighborhood? Visit www.sw2nerail.com and click on routes/stations on the left side of the page.

-- Gordon Dickson

Congrats to noteworthy Amtrak rider (with Keller ties!)

FORT WORTH — Amtrak celebrated its 500,000th passenger on the Heartland Flyer route from Fort Worth to Oklahoma City Thursday. Marilea Hoffmann, 80, of Oklahoma City received a cake, embroidered blanket and a spa treatment from Hilton Fort Worth.

Hoffmann arrived at Fort Worth’s Intermodal Transportation Center on a routine trip to see daughter Nancee Hoffmann of Keller. She’s been a regular on the train since shortly after service began in ’99.

What does she like best about it? "The scenery between here and there is beautiful."

— Gordon Dickson

www.kraftfoods.com, www.trainweather.com

North Texas knows bad traffic

Driving conditions have deteriorated more dramatically in Dallas-Fort Worth than in any other metro area since 1982, a report released today shows.

North Texans waste an average of 58 hours a year — nearly 2 1/2 days — while stuck in traffic, according to an urban mobility report by the Texas Transportation Institute. The study by the institute at Texas A&M University uses traffic data from 2005, the most recent year available.

Twenty-five years ago, the average Metroplex traveler lost only 10 hours a year.

"If you look at the last 10 years, the population of Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington has gone up about a million people ... so the fact that congestion is on the rise isn’t a surprise," said study co-author David Schrank.

Overall, D-FW ranks fifth in the nation in terms of wasted time on the road. In Los Angeles, drivers lose 72 hours a year. Drivers in San Francisco, Washington and Atlanta all lose 60 hours a year. But none of those cities experienced as dramatic a quarter-century change as the Metroplex.

Wasted time is considered time spent on the road in poor driving conditions — stop-and-go traffic — and does not include the time motorists would normally spend driving at or near the speed limit in good conditions.

The thorough report, which is released every two years, analyzes congestion in all 437 urban areas of the U.S., and provides detailed rankings for the 85 largest areas.

In North Texas, the situation would be much worse if the Metroplex hadn’t built high-occupancy vehicle lanes, installed highway cameras to track troubled areas and trained police to clear accidents quicker. Those kinds of improvements save motorists about 10 percent in commuting costs, including wasted fuel and lost productivity, Schrank said.

"The investment in improvements is really making a difference," he said, adding that the estimated savings to the region is $215 million a year.

The study also concludes that if public transportation such as buses and trains were not available in the Metroplex, another $102 million a year would have to be spent accommodating transit riders on the roads.

Despite those savings, North Texas is still losing about $2.7 billion a year to congestion.

The study recommends that populated areas across the U.S. not only continue to improve existing roads, but also add new lanes.

"Capacity is still needed," Schrank said.

The study is the most detailed to date, Schrank said. Because technology has made it easier to track real-time traffic, many figures from previous urban mobility reports have been updated.

Highlights:

*Nationally, 2.9 billion gallons of fuel are wasted because of congestion. That’s enough to fill 58 supertanker ships.

*Gridlock costs the U.S. economy $78 billion, including wasted fuel and lost job hours.

*In North Texas, the number of vehicle miles driven on freeways increased to 57.3 million in 2005, compared with 49.3 million in 2001. Meanwhile, the number of trips taken on public transportation or in carpools decreased to 82 million in 2005, compared to 85 million in 2001.

*So-called rush-hour traffic in Dallas-Fort Worth now lasts for 7.6 hours a day, compared with 7.2 hours in 2001 and 2.9 hours in 1982.

Gordon Dickson, 817-685-3816

Tense moment at the 35W Coalition

Word on the street is that Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley and state Rep. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, led a spirited discussion Wednesday morning during a quarterly meeting of the 35W Coalition, a group that advocates gridlock relief from downtown Fort Worth to the Tarrant-Denton County line.

Hancock was explaining why many state lawmakers don't want to raise the state's 8.25 percent sales tax cap for transportation, even if voters in a metro area such as North Texas approve the increase in a referendum. Basically, they believe the sales tax should be reserved for state purposes.

That's a sore subject with Whitley, who noted that state decision-makers won't let local voters raise their own taxes, but also won't open up the state purse to pay for North Texas transportation needs.

Other 35W members jumped to Hancock's defense, noting that he was among the lawmakers who backed the proposal for a sales tax election, and that just because he was explaining the sentiment in Austin doesn't mean he agrees with it.

FW train tracks could be separated by trench or overpass

Downtown Fort Worth’s congested train tracks could be separated by a trench or overpass within 10 years as part of a $300 million plan to relieve rail gridlock.

The long-distance tracks of two major rail companies — Fort Worth-based BNSF and Union Pacific — intersect downtown in an area known as Tower 55, near the Interstate 30/35W Fort Worth Mixmaster. The idea of separating the intersection by running one set of tracks over the other is considered a short-term fix. The long-term goal is to build a new rail line bypassing the Metroplex in rural areas west of Fort Worth, but that project may take 20 years or more to complete, said Mike Sims, senior program manager for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Texas voters in 2005 created a rail relocation fund to pay for removal of freight lines from populated areas, but the state Legislature earlier this year didn’t authorize funding for it.

Many of those lawmakers attended a Tower 55 briefing Wednesday in Arlington to hear from regional planners, who stressed the importance of quickly fixing train gridlock. Trains cause traffic problems by blocking intersections and expose residents to diesel emissions and hazardous cargo. "Even without a bypass, we need to make these immediate and short-term improvements," Sims told about 150 elected leaders from across the Metroplex and railroad company officials at the briefing. The train trench or overpass in downtown Fort Worth would be the biggest part of an estimated $300 million in public improvements funded over the next decade, Sims said. A variety of funds likely will be available in the next decade, including state emissions reduction funding, railroad rehabilitation funds and possibly proceeds from development contracts with private companies, he said.

Rail companies have committed in principle to helping regional planners solve train-related problems, and to open up freight lines to passenger rail traffic. But some projects will be easier than others, rail officials say. For example, Union Pacific officials still say it would be difficult to allow passenger service on the company’s busy tracks through Arlington. However, the company is more optimistic about helping the Fort Worth Transportation Authority runs its Cotton Belt line from southwest Fort Worth to Grapevine and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, UP chairman’s special representative Joseph Adams said after the meeting. That proposed commuter rail route, which is under environmental review, would include a couple of miles of Union Pacific tracks in north Fort Worth.

The North Texas region is the nation’s largest inland port, and will continue to prosper upon the efficient movement of goods by rail, said Hillwood Properties senior vice president Russell Laughlin. Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck, a physician and long-time advocate for passenger rail in his city, said fixing the region’s train gridlock is a public health matter. "The diesel exhaust we know is a concern. These folks living near where the trains are stopping are at real risk."

Gordon Dickson, 817-685-3816

New money for 35W, DART light-rail

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison announces that some key funding has been made available to eventually relieve gridlock on I-35W from downtown Fort Worth to Texas Motor Speedway, and to extend DART rail toward Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, where it's scheduled to meet up with the T's proposed new commuter rail line in about five years.

She issued two press releases. Here's the FIRST ONE  and here's the SECOND ONE. 

Time to speak up about trains, stations, etc.

Where should the next batch of commuter rail stations be built in Tarrant County? What features would make the stations most appealing?

If you have an answer to either question or just want to hear from others about the issue, consider attending any of the upcoming round-table discussions on the proposed rail line from southwest Fort Worth to Grapevine and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

The Fort Worth Transportation Authority is planning the line. Public input will help determine where the stations are built and how they're designed, officials said.

For residents who want to review the southwest-to-northeast rail corridor, exhibits are on display at 19 area libraries, community centers and other public buildings. For more details, visit www.the-t.com or call 817-215-8785.

The round tables

Anyone may participate, officials said. Reservations aren't required. The schedule:

6:30-8 p.m. Sept. 17, Texas Department of Transportation regional training center, McCart Avenue at Interstate 20, Fort Worth.

Noon-1:30 p.m. Sept. 18, Intermodal Transportation Center, Ninth and Jones streets, Fort Worth.

6:30-8 p.m. Sept. 18, Camp Fire USA First Texas Council, 2700 Meacham Blvd., Fort Worth.

-- Gordon Dickson

K-Hutch touches all the bases

IRVING — U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison was at center stage Thursday during the 10th annual Texas Transportation Summit, which ends today at the Westin Dallas Fort Worth Airport. She had a lot to say about things Thursday during her 20-minute luncheon speech.

Texas 121 toll road

To end speculation whether North Texas might have to give back $237 million in federal money already spent on Texas 121 north of Grapevine, Hutchison called the nation’s transportation secretary. “I picked up the phone and called Mary Peters and got her early in the morning. She called back in two hours and said Texas will not lose a dime.”

The Regional Transportation Council a year ago picked Spanish firm Cintra to build the toll road but canceled that agreement in June and chose the North Texas Tollway Authority — a violation of federal procurement rules.

Ailing bridges

States must ensure bridges are safe, especially in work zones, to prevent a repeat of the Minneapolis disaster.

“I believe ... there is going to be some correlation between the repair going on that bridge and the loss of strength of that structure. If the vibrations of jack hammers affect the bolts and steel, we need to know that.”

Road funding

Congress should stop using federal gas tax funds on pet projects such as local roads, and instead focus on maintaining interstates and other components of a national highway system.

And states such as Texas, which gets back only about 90 percent of the federal gas tax money it sends to Washington, should no longer subsidize states that spend more gas tax revenue than they take in.

“There is no need for us to build roads in Montana and Wyoming anymore,” she said. “It is time for us to take care of our own roads.”

Trains

Inner-city and long-distance trains should be connected into a national network.

“We have a national rail system and if we let it go we can’t get it back. Eventually, if we can keep these metro systems like DART up and running ... and have regional transit like the Trinity Railway Express, we can connect these with Amtrak.”

She pointed at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Chief Executive Officer and joked: “It’s not going to compete with aviation, Jeff Fegan. Don’t get excited about it. It’s not.”

Where'd all these feds come from ???

The TSA is swarming Tarrant County buses, trains and transit stations today. Why?

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.

DART service is up and running in Dallas

The explosion had only temporary effects on Dallas Area Rapid Transit trains. Here's an 11:19 a.m. dispatch from DART spokeswoman Claudia Garibay:

"DART Rail service has been restored. DART is rerouting several bus routes around the affected area with some delays in the downtown area. The Trinity Railway Express is operating normally.

DART bus service will be restored when fire department officials deem it safe to do so.

DART riders expect delays

Commuters in the Dallas area will want to check the DART page before they head home today.

The gas plant explosion is wreaking hovoc near downtown, and rail service has been suspended to the Convention Center and Cedars stations as of 11 a.m. DART also is rerouting several bus routes. The Trinity Railway Express is operating normally.

Can o' corn

Thursday is "Ride for a Can" day. Bring one can for a one-way trip, or two cans for a day pass on all T buses and the Trinity Railway Express.

(Warning: a TRE ticket is still required if you're going all the way to Dallas County!)

On Friday, collected cans will be taken by trolley to the Tarrant Area Food Bank.

More: www.the-t.com

p.s. It doesn't have to be corn. It can be any food item. "Can o' corn" is an old baseball expression.

Is this fare?

The T is raising fares. The most dramatic increases will be experienced by children, seniors and people with disabilities. Read the press release and new fare schedule.

Do tourists dig transit ?

Last time you played the role of tourist, did you take a bus or train? According to this press release, it's almost even odds thatcha did ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 29, 2007

Contacts:

Mantill Williams

 

(202)

496-4869

Virginia Miller

(202)

496-4816

Up to 48 Percent of Travelers Will Use Public Transit When Visiting Top Cities for Summer and July Fourth Events

WASHINGTON, DC – While most think of the local public transportation system as a way to get back and forth to work, many savvy travelers are using it as an environmentally-friendly and cost-effective way to tour some of the hot destinations and summer events a city has to offer.  In its Green Travel Forecast, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) estimates that 90 million American adults will travel to large American cities this summer. 

On average, one out of three people surveyed said they will tour green by using public transportation (34 percent).  Travelers’ use of public transportation will reach as high as 48 percent in

New York City

, the nation’s top destination for transit use for visitors.  A ranking of the top ten city destinations and their transit use among visitors follows: 

New York City

(48%)

Washington

,

DC

(46%)

Boston

,

MA

(43%) 

San Francisco

(40%) 

Philadelphia

(34%)

Chicago

(31%)

Seattle

(30%) 

Las Vegas

(26%) 

Los Angeles

(26%)

Atlanta

(22%)

Cities are one of the top destinations for the Fourth of July holiday and during the summer months.  This survey of 33,000 adults shows for the first time how travelers will get around once they arrive at their city destination.  Synovate, a leading market research firm, conducted the survey for APTA.

The survey also showed that travelers’ use of public transportation will increase this summer.  Twenty-eight percent of those who will use public transit while visiting a city said that they are more likely to use it this summer as opposed to last year.

While high gas prices are a factor for daily commuters, it did not rank as the top concern when travelers listed the most important reasons they would use public transportation during their trip to a city this summer.  Sixty-two percent said it would be less expensive than taxicabs or rental cars, followed closely by 61 percent who say they won’t have to worry about finding a parking space for their vehicle.

Another 48 percent say they will use public transportation when traveling because it is easier to use, while 42 percent like not having to drive around an unfamiliar city.  Thirty-nine percent say public transportation is better for the environment and 38 percent said it will be less expensive than buying gas to drive their personal vehicle.

“This summer, many city tourists will be saying ‘no cab fare, no rental car, no problem!’” said William W. Millar, president of APTA.  “With almost 40 percent of travelers surveyed saying they will use transit this summer because of environmental concerns, tourists are discovering that getting around a city by public transportation can provide for a greener environment and can help them keep more green in their wallet.”

The environmental benefits of transit are many.  Public transportation produces 95 percent less carbon monoxide (CO) and 90 percent less in volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and nearly 50 percent less carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrogen oxide (NO_x), per passenger mile than private vehicles, according to APTA.

The cost savings for travelers using public transportation are high.  A traveler can purchase a visitors pass for a local public transportation system and ride all day for as little as three to ten dollars.  That is a fraction of what it would cost to rent a car and park it, or take numerous cab rides around the city, or buy gas and park a vehicle.

The most popular activity for those using public transportation while visiting a city is sightseeing (61 percent), followed by: restaurant dining and nightlife (46 percent), shopping (44 percent), travel to and from their place of lodging (41 percent), visiting a historical site (37 percent) and travel to and from the airport (37 percent).

Travelers who originate from large metropolitan areas are more likely to take advantage of a city’s local public transportation system.  Slightly over half (53 percent) of those traveling to a city and use transit on their trip are from large urban areas, while 23 percent are from medium-sized metro areas and 24 percent are from smaller cities and towns.

To assist travelers, APTA is providing its free “Green Travel Forecast, a Consumer’s Guide to Touring American Cities in a More Environmentally Friendly Way.”  The guide includes specific information on day and visitor passes, trip planners, transit maps and directions.  For the top 10 destinations with established transit systems it includes examples of upcoming city events accessible by transit for July 4^th and other summer activities.  Go to www.publictransportation.org for a free copy.

“Using a city’s public transportation system on your trip can give you a snapshot of the pulse of that city,” said Millar.  “You may arrive as a tourist, but after touring the city via the transit system, you will definitely leave as a local.”

Research for APTA’s Green Travel Forecast is based on a national survey of 33,719 adults conducted by Synovate on May 9-29 and has a margin of error of +/- 1 percent.

#      #      #

APTA is a nonprofit international association of 1,500 member organizations including public transportation systems; planning, design, construction and finance firms; product and service providers; academic institutions; and state associations and departments of transportation. APTA members serve the public interest by providing safe, efficient and economical public transportation services and products. APTA members serve more than 90 percent of persons using public transportation in the

United States

and

Canada

.

Synovate is a leading global market research firm.  Synovate’s Travel & Leisure practice provides research expertise and client service to the travel, tourism, transportation, hospitality, and cruise industries.  More information on Synovate is available at www.synovate.com.

Worst attack on London since WWII

How was London able to get its Underground back up and running so quickly after 7-7-05?

Read a story 'about it HERE.

First order of business: A Firestorm!

Oscar Trevino was selected chairman of the Regional Transportation Council this week. His first order of business: preside over a five-hour political slugfest, during which the RTC decided to let the North Texas Tollway Authority build the Texas 121 toll road project rather than the private, Spanish firm Cintra.

Don't worry, Oscar, it's all downhill from here!

The North Richland Hills mayor curiously voted in favor of the NTTA plan, which passed 27-10, even though he's previously been a big fan of private investment in roads. It seemed uncharacteristic of his honor to turn his back on a $2.9 billion check from the private sector. But Trevino, who commented just before the vote that he was glad to be toward the end of the alphabetical roll call vote, apparently saw that the NTTA proposal was going to win no matter how he voted, so he voted in favor of it to show regional unity.

NTTA, after all, does have a seat on the RTC ... Other new officers, who will serve one-year terms:

Vice chair: Linda Koop, Dallas councilwoman.

Secretary: Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley (also a former RTC chair).

Watch KERA-TV 13 tonight

Cancel those Friday night plans and watch tonight's episode of Think at 7:30 p.m. on KERA TV-13. The topic is how North Texas will handle growth in the coming years as it relates to transportation, and I'm appearing on there as a guest along with KERA News Director Shelley Kofler. Krys Boyd is the ever-gracious host ...

Oh, and there's an arts segment featuring Kimball Art Museum deputy director Malcolm Warner.

Read more about THINK here ...

Extreme commute with an extremely nice gal

What's it like to commute everyday from Fort Worth to Plano? Watch a short movie about extreme commuting HERE.

It's a story about Merianne Roth,  who lives in Fort Worth's Ryan Place, and works at JCPenney, Legacy and the North Dallas Tollway.

If you know someone with an interesting commuting story to tell, send me an e-mail at gdickson@star-telegram.com ...

The video ends with me and Merianne arriving at JCPenney at 8:40 a.m. ... and me wondering how I'm going to get back home (or at least to my car parked at Merianne's home in Fort Worth). Several people have asked me how I got home, so here's the skinny:

The short answer is, I took a combination of buses and trains ...

1. The morning of my assignment, in the wee hours, before arriving at Merianne's home, I stopped at the Fort Worth ITC train station and bought a $4.50 day pass, which I knew would give me access to all public transportation in the greater Dallas and Fort Worth areas. I also checked www.dart.org and www.the-t.com to make sure there would be bus service at both my beginning and end points. 

2. DART's Route 451 stops directly in front of JCPenny HQ, at Headquarters Boulevard and Leadership Drive in Plano, about every half hour. However, the bus stop is not marked with the usual yellow sign, so after parting ways with Merianne I missed my first bus opportunity at about 9:14 a.m., but I did catch the bus at 9:44 a.m. In the interim, I walked the enormous JCPenney campus, and got my pants really muddy as I walked past rows of wildflowers along the sidewalks.

2. At about 10:35 a.m., the bus arrived at the Forest Lane Station, where I hopped aboard the DART red line light-rail line toward downtown Dallas.

3. I knew that the next Trinity Railway Express back to Fort Worth wouldn't leave Dallas' Union Station until about noonish, so instead of taking the DART red line all the way to Union Station, I hopped off two stops early at Akard Station and got a bite to eat at Hamby's, a southern diner-type place which is alongside the train tracks. I had the hamburger steak with mushroom and onion gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans. Mmmmm ...! I left the restaurant at about 11:45 a.m.

4. I got back on the light-rail line and took the last two stops to Union Station, arriving at about 11:55 a.m. where a Trinity Railway Express commuter rail line to Fort Worth was waiting. It departed at 12:06 p.m.

(On the train, I tried to get some work done and review my video tape of the commute with Merianne, but a conductor lady scolded me for not using headphones, and presumably bothering the other passengers, so I turned off the device and tried to get some sleep instead.)

5. The TRE arrived at Fort Worth ITC station at 1:04 p.m. I found the T's Route 6 bus, which I knew would take me down Eighth Avenue, within about a block of Merianne's house (and my car). The bus departed at 1:15 p.m.

6. I got off the bus at 1:40 p.m. and walked two minutes to my car.

So in all, it took about 4 hours to get from Plano to Fort Worth using public transportation, compared to 1 hour and 20 minutes by car. But to be fair:

* I stopped for lunch.

* I was traveling during the midday and, if I had been traveling during rush hour, bus and train service would have been more frequent, and I probably could have done the journey in less than 3 hours.

New watchdog on the block

Faith Chatham has a beef with the Regional Transportation Council.

The Arlington resident, who has an eclectic past that includes time as a newspaper ad rep and Franciscan sister, believes the agency isn't doing enough to get the word out about its plans for toll roads, rail lines, etc.

Chatham and some colleagues have formed the DFW Regional Concerned Citizens and have pledged to start following RTC activities more closely.

The group is a combo of active Democrats and Republicans (most of the founders are Demos), who are somewhat put off by the way politics in the Metroplex, and across Texas, works these days.

"We feel grass-roots Democrats and Republicans are closer than they've ever been based on ethics, things being done in the dark and big, powerful political forces with a lot of clout getting their way."

The RTC is a regional form of government with growing power. It has 40 members appointed by cities and counties across the region, and a staff that is responsible for allocating millions of dollars in transportation funds -- AND SETTING TOLL ROAD POLICY.

Chatham sent a letter to Denton County Commissioner and RTC chairwoman Cynthia White calling for more openness in the public involvement process, which RTC must follow to comply with federal funding rules. Chatham asserts that RTC holds public meetings at times when ordinary people can't attend, and at places where the projects in question aren't controversial.

Read more about that Here 

Chatham says Chairwoman White responded promptly and promised to look into it.

Chatham also believes there ought to be a public comment period at RTC meetings.

Who's making decisions on RTC? Here's the roster ...

New payment option for cities that want rail

The news about commuter rail wasn't all bad in the recently-concluded state legislative session, according to Burleson Mayor Ken Shetter, who follows transportation issues closely.

Here's a dispatch from his honor about new ways to use sales tax funds to pay for passenger rail:

"Actually, there was one minor victory on transit. There was a bill passed and signed by the Governor that will allow cities to use 4A funds for transit purposes. Since most cities have at least a portion of 4A funds bond-obligated for several years into the future this legislation doesn’t provide the mechanism to fund a comprehensive rail system, but it is a good tool to have in the toolbox."

Ken Shetter

No rail relocation?

North Texas toll projects survived the legislative session, but efforts to replace freight rail lines with passenger rail suffered a setback ...

T Riders Watch Your Wallets

Bus and train fares may soon go up in Tarrant County.

The Fort Worth Transportation Authority is seeking comment on the proposed increases. The T's board of directors will decide on the fares June 21.

Among the changes: Reduced fares for seniors, disabled and student riders will increase to $25 a month, up from $15.

A chart of the proposed fare changes:

What can you do about it?

* Call the T hotline by June 11 at 817-215-8669

* Write the T by picking up a comment card at the Intermodal Transportation Center, Ninth at Jones streets in downtown Fort Worth.

* E-mail the T at tweb@the-t.com or go to the T's home page at www.the-t.com

Sizzling Super Bowl transportation plans

Check out the