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Driverless car service set to begin in North Texas this summer

A suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is reportedly set to get the nation's first self-driving car service. The service, reported Monday by The Dallas Morning News, will first be accessible in July for roughly 10,000 employees working in a bevy of corporate offices located less than a mile away from The Star, a retail and dining area that also serves as headquarters for the Dallas Cowboys. The service will also be free for the first six months. The California-based Driv

DART Begins Fare System Overhaul Monday With New GoPass App

Dallas Area Rapid Transit's first major fare structure overhaul since 2012 will get started this week with the rollout of a major update to the transit agency's mobile payment app. The update, effective Monday, clears the way for systemwide fare and collection changes this summer. Those who struggle to cover their daily transportation costs as things are will struggle more, but DART's most faithful riders will get a bit of a reprieve with the system's new fare-capping policy.

Amtrak jumps on board Texas' bullet train with ticketing and shuttle partnership

A conceptual digital rendering showing the North Texas passenger station for the Texas bullet train, proposed to be in the Cedars neighborhood of Dallas, just south of downtown, near the Interstate 30 and Interstate 35 interchange. (Photo illustration by Texas Central Partners) Amtrak and Texas Central announced a partnership Friday to link the proposed bullet train from Dallas to Houston to the national passenger rail network. Passengers will be able to book their bullet tra

Residents say the politicians of LBJ East have failed them as much as the freeway itself

John Willis spent six years on the political front lines of Interstate 635 in Garland, the stretch of highway deemed in more need of improvement than any other in North Texas. Willis' wife, Dana, recently spent a harrowing few seconds on the freeway itself. She was going the opposite direction Feb. 28 when an 18-wheeler jackknifed in slick conditions. Concrete flew over the median, taking out a windshield and a couple tires on her 2014 Toyota Corolla. "That's the reality out

DCTA Receives Nearly $3M in Funding to Construct New Bus Maintenance Facility in Lewisville

The Denton County Transportation Authority has announced it will soon have a more efficient bus operations infrastructure with help from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration. The agency was recently awarded $2,625,000 million in funding from FTA’s Bus & Bus Facilities Infrastructure Investment Program to construct a new light duty bus maintenance facility. DCTA’s new bus facility will be located at the agency’s Rail and Operations Maintenance f

In Texas, Bad Transportation Policy Is Killing Us

This morning we saw some fresh evidence that, if you are a pedestrian, this city is passively trying to make you inconvenienced, if not actively trying to kill you. Even without any sidewalk-blocking construction, walking in Dallas can be dangerous, something backed up by the data and plenty of personal anecdotes: Spend a week hoofing it from downtown to the Cedars during afternoon rush hour, and you’ll begin treating the desperate sprint across eastbound Griffin Street on Ak

Keys to the smart cities of tomorrow: Technology partnerships and the Internet of Things

The 2018 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) that was held earlier this month was as much about collaborations and partnerships as it was about new technology. Many of the companies at CES were promoting products for the “smart home” such as smart locks, sensors, smart thermostats, smart appliances, and smart entertainment controls that are integrated with voice assistants — such as Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa. One in six Americans now own a smart speaker — up 128 percent in

Good enough for government work?

I am guessing that most every blog reader has heard the somewhat-contemptuous phrase, "good enough for government work," used to discuss production that is mediocre at best and slipshod at worst. What few know, however, is the origin of this phrase, as discussed by Doris Kearns Goodwin in No Ordinary Time, her 1995 book about the home front during World War II. It turns out that the original meaning of this phrase was the exact opposite of the meaning it has since been given.

Analysis: The line for money at the Texas Capitol just got longer

Legislative sessions are almost always about the money — how much is available, and who is going to get it. The next session of the Texas Legislature will have the usual suspects in line —school finance, border security, pensions, etc. — but a new entry will be at the front of the line. His name is Harvey. This year’s regular and special legislative sessions were marked by financial wrangling, and by some analysts’ reckoning, lawmakers dug their successors a deep hole. The Te

Automatic Emergency Relief from FTA Regulatory Requirements Applicable to Hurricane Harvey Response

Charter Transit agencies may take actions, such as providing service for evacuations, returning evacuees from shelters to their homes, transporting utility workers, and providing service to shelter residents, as long as these actions are directly related to Hurricane Harvey, without triggering the charter rule. Transit agencies may provide such services for up to 45 days from a declaration of emergency by the President, governor or mayor. For Texas, the Presidential declarati

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