In Dallas, Transit Cuts Reflect Long-Simmering Suburban Tensions

When everything goes well, Bianca Smith’s commute takes 90 minutes. It starts at 5 a.m., when a bus near her South Dallas home takes her to a Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail station; the train sweeps her 16 miles to the northwest suburb of Irving, Texas. To get to her warehouse job, she has to call a GoLink van, an on-demand microtransit service that helps cover the sprawling reaches of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area that aren’t served by buses or trains.

But things don’t always go well. DART’s buses are often trapped in traffic and late; sometimes the GoLink van can take nearly an hour to arrive, she says. And there are days when the long trek to the warehouse is futile: If she doesn’t get a message saying there’s work available, she can still show up but needs to be among the first employees to arrive.