TX: Plano voters set to consider leaving DART next year after council OKs withdrawal election

Plano will let voters decide if it will withdraw from the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system, after the City Council Wednesday set an election next May to settle the question – joining Highland Park and Farmers Branch in throwing the matter to the ballot box.

Irving will decide Thursday if it will join the three cities in seeking an exodus from the state’s largest transit agency, a movement that has been fueled by dissatisfaction over what some leaders have deemed inadequate service from DART in suburban cities relative to sales tax contributions.

More than 90 people lined up to address the Plano council ahead of their vote Wednesday, offering a competing view over the future of Plano’s role in the region’s public transportation system.

University students, commuters, working professionals, neighbors, community leaders and people with disabilities lined up to speak to the council about how losing DART service would make it hard to travel. Some said they chose to live near DART stops and use the transit system frequently to get to work or school.

“If you guys pull out of DART, I’m not sure I’m going to get to work,” Tyler Wright told the council Wednesday. He lives in Addison and works in Plano. “Please stop this vote and come to the table. Talk to the ridership and with DART.”

But in the end, the Plano council’s eight members voted in favor of holding a withdrawal election next year.

“We on the city council have a fiscal responsibility for all the citizens of Plano,” council member Rick Horne said before the vote Wednesday night. “I don’t see any improvements from DART to serve all the citizens of Plano. I still see empty buses. I still hear complaints. … We must leave it to the citizens of Plano to vote.”

Plano’s council expressed frustration over failed attempts to negotiate with DART, crime near DART stations, its governance structure and an inadequate return on investment for DART services.

Although the vast majority spoke in favor of remaining with the agency, a few addressed the council in favor of a withdrawal from DART, some citing concerns over crime at along its routes.

Plano is now the largest city set to consider pulling out of the transit agency. Giving $116 million in sales tax into the system in fiscal year 2023, Plano is the second-largest sales tax contributor to DART after Dallas, which gave more than $423 million that year, according to agency documents. The third highest contributor was Irving at $103 million.

A 2024 report by the firm EY showed Plano contributed more than $109 million in fiscal year 2023, though DART spent about $44 million on services in the city. Plano staff report the city spends more on DART than police and economic development combined.

“A decision like this is very threatening,” DART CEO Nadine Lee told The Dallas Morning News after the council’s vote. “It’s less about how much it costs or how much money we would lose. It’s more about how much access people would lose around the region.”

Plano is one of 13 member cities that pays a 1 cent sales tax to DART. Lee told the council Wednesday that her agency has tried to work with Plano and will continue seeking to improve service.

“The progress we’ve made comes from standing together and confronting our challenges as one region,” Lee told the council earlier. “I invite you to work with us, with transparency, collaboration and good faith to resolve these issues in place of withdrawal.”

Many residents told the council DART’s worth is more than a dollar turn on an investment. Comments made throughout the evening Wednesday in support of DART were met with raucous applause and cheers from a crowd of an estimated 325 attendees, some chanting “We want DART” at the end of roughly two hours of public comment.

“Please make sure mobility for the most vulnerable is not compromised,” said Rick Roth, a Plano resident and brain cancer survivor who urged the council to consider residents with disabilities.

The move to seek an out from DART could result in an end to its services in Plano if voters choose to withdraw, and comes less than two weeks after the transit system launched its $2 billion Silver Line, a 10-stop route between DFW International Airport and DART’s Shiloh Road Station in Plano.

Earlier in the week, DART board chair Randall Bryant of Dallas asked Plano leaders to postpone withdrawal election votes for thirty days. But the move was too little, too late for their councils.

Bryant, elected board chair last week, thanked the council for previous negotiations Wednesday.

“I hope that those conversations in earnest continue, but this vote tonight hurts that ability,” Bryant told the council Wednesday.

Plano’s council is considering other options for transit services in Plano if DART no longer operates in the city, such as alternative paratransit and on-demand micro-transit operators within the city. Mayor John Muns said leaders could try negotiating with DART to keep rail service, and said leaders will meet with on-demand rideshare service providers in the coming days.

“We’re going to make sure that all of those opportunities and options are carefully considered so that we can really provide a better opportunity for our residents to be able to get where they want to get,” Muns said following the vote.

The withdrawal elections could be called off if member cities and the transit agency find common ground. The councils have 45 days before the election to rescind their decisions. If not, the special election is expected to be on May 2, 2026.

If the vote passes and cities withdraw, service would stop the next day in those areas, DART communications chief Jeamy Molina said. None of DART’s bus routes, light rail, micro-transit or paratransit would operate in withdrawn cities. Cities outside of DART’s services area can still contract with the agency for certain services.

Cities wouldn’t stop paying right away if a pullout election resulted in a withdrawal from DART. There are still obligations to pay off debt associated with cities’ contributions, Molina said. DART estimates Plano would continue paying a full penny of sales tax to the agency for as long as 10 years to pay off debt.

Plano council member Bob Kehr hopes the city can get back to the drawing board with DART. But if the system isn’t made into a better investment for Plano, he thinks the withdrawal could be worth it.

“Ultimately, when that debt is paid off, then we’ll have full access to those resources,” Kehr said. “I think that’s something that the citizens have to determine … but I think it’s going to be better in the long run.”

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