OTOL Missouri-Texas RailFest 2017: Dallas Fares

Tuesday, July 18, 2017 - Thursday, July 20, 2017

Our time in the Dallas area will include rides on DART light rail, DART Dallas Streetcar, and DART's M-Line heritage streetcar. Las Colinas Automated Personal Rapid Transit is on our agenda as well. We also plan to ride the DCTA A-Train commuter rail round trip over its entire run between Carrollton and Denton. No travel is planned at this time for Trinity Railway Express commuter rail, but it is there for the riding if one has extra time. Las Colinas Automated Personal Rapid Transit, M-Line, and Dallas Streetcar are fare free. The fare structure covering DCTA A-Train, Trinity Railway Express, and DART light rail is covered below.

Light Rail

First, there are several fare levels of service to define:

Based on the above, the current fare structure on DART does not include a single trip base fare. The smallest fare instrument is a Two Hour Pass that allows as much travel as possible in a 2-hour period from time of purchase. There is also a discounted Midday Pass ($1.75) good only between 9:30 AM and 2:30 PM on weekdays for unlimited travel in that period. Finally, there is a Day Pass, good for unlimited travel on the date of purchase until 3 AM the following morning. The Day Pass costs twice the cost of a Two Hour Pass, so if you are riding for anything over 2 hours per day as we certainly are, the Day Pass is your best bet each day; however different fare levels will be most economic depending on our planned activities that day.

The charts below for each day are not self-explanatory as they usually are, because of the myriad of fare levels. The bottom line for the majority of us participating throughout the day all three days is that the Day Pass would be easiest for us. We would need the $5 Local Day Pass on Tuesday and Thursday, and the $10 Regional Day Pass on Wednesday since plans include A-Train. However utilizing the Midday Pass option good 9:30 AM until 2:30 PM on weekdays might come out cheaper than a Day Pass but more visits to ticket vending machines during our travels would be necessary. It does get tricky if one is not joining us for the whole day and wishes to pay for trips individually.

For Tuesday, the Midday options would be moot since we start travelling after 2:30 PM. The $5 Local Day Pass would suffice for our travels on the Blue Line. If you choose to pay with Two Hour Local Passes, you will need 2 of them at $2.50 each, which comes out to the same $5.00.

Wednesday is the most complex day. If purchasing a Day Pass, we would need the $10 Regional Day Pass in order to ride the A-Train later in the day. If you don't plan to participate in that ride, then a $5 Local Day Pass would suffice. Going a la carte is where this becomes interesting. Between our start and lunchtime, you can purchase 2 Two Hour Local Passes at $2.50 each, or a total of $5. After lunch, you would need 2 Two Hour Regional Passes at $5.00 each, for a total of $10. Thus your total for the day would come to $15, which is $5 more than a Regional Day Pass. However, you also can qualify for the Midday Pass before lunchtime since all those travels would be after 9:30 AM. $1.75 should get you through the period. When you add in the $10 for the 2 Two Hour Regional Passes you still need after lunchtime, now your total for the day is reduced to $11.75 -- still above the cost of the Regional Day Pass.

It is even more interesting on Thursday since there is an option that comes in under the cost of the required $5 Local Day Pass. Again that would be the easiest for us and only require one purchase that morning. When looking at the Two Hour Local Pass option, 2 of them would be required to cover our light rail travels (which would be overwith before our Dallas Streetcar trips and lunchtime), so that would come to the same $5.00 total cost. But now the Midday Local Pass comes into play. Since we plan to start at 8:55 AM, we would need to purchase one $2.50 Two Hour Local Pass for the first ride on the Green Line. At Buckner, the Midday Pass period kicks in, so the next $1.75 would get us through the rest of the day's travel on light rail (M-Line and Dallas Streetcar are free). Thus the total cost for Thursday under this choice would come to $4.25 which is 75 cents less than the Local Day Pass.

Reduced fares have not been discussed above, but in most cases similar savings can be had by buying a Reduced Day Pass vs using multiple Two Hour Local Passes. There is, however, no Reduced Midday Pass, so one would still pay $1.75 for the Midday Local Pass regardless of whether you qualify for reduced fares or not. The $2.50 Reduced Day Pass is good throughout the DART, TRE, and DCTA (A-Train) systems for those who qualify.

TUESDAY, JULY 18th
CarrierRouteActivityPlanned
Time
2-hr Pass
Local
2-hr Pass
Reduced
2 hr Pass
Regional
Midday Pass
Local
Midday Pass
Regional
Day Pass
Local
Day Pass
Reduced
Day Pass
Regional
Leave Union Station2:58 PM$2.50$1.25Need
Local or
Reduced
Pass
N/AN/A$5.00$2.50Need
Local or
Reduced
Pass
Arrive UNT Dallas3:24 PM
Leave UNT Dallas3:30 PM
Arrive Downtown Rowlett4:42 PM
Leave Downtown Rowlett4:51 PM$2.50$1.25
Arrive West End5:31 PM
END OF TUESDAY ACTIVITIESTOTAL:
$5.00
TOTAL:
$2.50
TOTAL:
$5.00
TOTAL:
$2.50


WEDNESDAY, JULY 19th
CarrierRouteActivityPlanned
Time
2-hr Pass
Local
2-hr Pass
Reduced
2 hr Pass
Regional
Midday Pass
Local
Midday Pass
Regional
Day Pass
Local
Day Pass
Reduced
Day Pass
Regional
Leave Pearl/Arts District9:55 AM$2.50$1.25Need
Local or
Reduced
Pass
$1.75Need
Local
Pass
Need
Regional
Pass
$2.50$10.00
Arrive DFW Airport10:51 AM
Leave DFW Airport11:15 AM
Arrive Las Colinas Urban Center11:33 AM
Las Colinas Area
Personal Transit System
Track 2Leave Tower 90911:40 AMFREE
Arrive 600 Las Colinas Blvd.11:50 AM
Las Colinas Area
Personal Transit System
Track 1Leave 600 Las Colinas Blvd.11:52 AM
Arrive Urban Towers12:02 PM
Las Colinas Area
Personal Transit System
Track 1Leave Urban Towers12:04 PM
Arrive Bell Tower/Mandalay Canal12:06 PM
Las Colinas Area
Personal Transit System
Track 2Leave Bell Tower/Mandalay Canal12:10 PM
Arrive Tower 90912:15 PM
Leave Las Colinas Urban Center12:33 PM$2.50$1.25Need
Local or
Reduced
Pass
  Need
Regional
Pass
  
Arrive West End1:04 PM
LUNCH IN DALLAS
Leave West End2:06 PMNeed
Regional
Pass
Need
Regional
Pass
$5.00N/AN/A
Arrive North Carrollton/Frankford2:47 PM
Leave North Carrollton/Frankford3:09 PM
Arrive Trinity Mills3:11 PM

Train #5940
Leave Trinity Mills3:29 PM
Arrive Downtown Denton
Transit Center
4:01 PM

Train #5939
Leave Downtown Denton
Transit Center
4:11 PM$5.00
Arrive Trinity Mills4:43 PM
Leave Trinity Mills4:56 PM
Arrive West End5:35 PM
END OF WEDNESDAY ACTIVITIESTOTAL:
$5.00
TOTAL:
$2.50
TOTAL:
$10.00
TOTAL:
$1.75
TOTAL:
$2.50
TOTAL:
$10.00


THURSDAY, JULY 20th
CarrierRouteActivityPlanned
Time
2-hr Pass
Local
2-hr Pass
Reduced
2 hr Pass
Regional
Midday Pass
Local
Midday Pass
Regional
Day Pass
Local
Day Pass
Reduced
Day Pass
Regional
Leave West End8:55 AM$2.50$1.25N/AN/AN/A$5.00$2.50Need
Local or
Reduced
Pass
Arrive Buckner9:29 AM
Leave Buckner9:39 AM$1.75Need
Local
Pass
Arrive Pearl/Arts District10:07 AM
Leave Pearl/Arts District10:20 AM
Arrive Cityplace/Uptown10:24 AM
Leave Cityplace/Uptown10:42 AMFREE
Arrive Federal & Olive11:05 AM
Leave Federal & Olive11:05 AM
Arrive Cityplace/Uptown11:19 AM
Leave Cityplace/Uptown11:41 AM$2.50$1.25N/A     
Arrive Union Station11:53 AM
Leave Union Station12:10 PMFREE
Arrive Bishop Arts District12:20 PM
LUNCH IN BISHOP ARTS DISTRICT
Leave Bishop Arts District2:09 PM
Arrive Union Station2:20 PM
END OF THURSDAY ACTIVITIESTOTAL:
$5.00
TOTAL:
$2.50
 TOTAL:
$1.75
 TOTAL:
$5.00
TOTAL:
$2.50