Dallas — Extension Funded

April 2013

The regional Council of Governments has reallocated $31 million in funding to extend the downtown Dallas to Oak Cliff modern streetcar line from the city Convention Center to the Bishop Arts District at Oak Cliff. The alignment now under construction only links Union Station with Methodist Hospital.

But the question now facing Dallas City Council is how to pay for operating the extension, Dallas Morning News reports.

The current operating plan is to terminate service at 7 p.m. nightly but the extension would serve a nightlife district and could raise the annual $500,000 operating cost to $2.5 million.

If the Dallas City Council votes to accept the funding and to cover operation and maintenance of the line, then the extension could open in 2015, a year after the initial stretch. The city needs to find a source of the $500,000 during these times of tight budgets before committing to the extension.