Dallas — M Line Proves Popular

Rail Transit Online, February 2003

Extending the McKinney Avenue heritage streetcar line to DART's Cityplace light rail station and incorporating what was once an all-volunteer, enthusiast operation into the regional transit system has boosted ridership from little more than 2,000 each month to 11,000.  Of course, making the McKinney Avenue line fare free also helped.  Although a paid staff has augmented the volunteers, the McKinney Avenue Transit Authority (MATA) is still independent.  A survey of less than 100 riders made last fall shows only 16 percent using the trolleys for recreational or business trips, with the remainder traveling to school or work.  Construction of a long-planned 0.8 mi. (1.28 km) second extension costing $4.6 million may finally get underway next summer, bringing the tracks looping through the expanding downtown Arts District and a terminal just a block from the St. Paul LRT station.  Next fall, it is hoped to begin installation of a turntable at the Cityplace station, which will allow the use of two ex-Toronto single-end PCC cars now stored at DART’s maintenance facility.  MATA’s current fleet of four antiques is double-ended.  Meanwhile, there are proposals to expand the McKinney operation even more, with a branch to the West End Historic District and a route along Main Street or another parallel thoroughfare.  DART’s expansion plan calls for a second light rail line through the downtown core in about a decade to handle traffic from proposed new lines to Farmers Branch, Carrollton, Rowlett and D/FW International Airport.