DART Service Changes Are Coming This Summer – You Can Voice Your Opinion On Them (Blog)

Coming this August:  Expanded transit service in the Des Moines area.

Right now:  You can contact the Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority at www.ridedart.com and fill out a survey which has questions about what you would like to see in expanded transit service-service frequencies, times and more.

This week DART officials have been outlining a series of proposed improvements for the transit service which are slated to go into effect into this August at a series of public meetings in the Des Moines area.  “These are only preliminary,” noted Jim Tishim, the planning director for DART, at the April 16 meeting at the DART Central Station in downtown Des Moines. 

Another public meeting is planned for April 18, 5:30 p.m. in the Mall Tower Meeting Room on the second floor.

Some highlights:

• Currently Route 11, which serves the Valley Junction area via Ingersoll Avenue, albeit with a detour due to bridge construction on Grand Avenue, has three trips in the morning and three trips in the afternoon on weekdays. Plans call for four trips in the morning and four trips in the afternoon on weekdays.
• Route 91, which links Johnston with downtown Des Moines in the mornings and afternoons, might have more trips, at 15-minute intervals, during peak  times between Merle Hay Mall and the DART Central Station, along with hourly trips during the middle of the day from Merle Hay Mall to the DART station downtown, along Merle Hay Road and University. Also being considered is Saturday and Sunday service from Merle Hay Mall to the DART station in downtown Des Moines.
• The Ankeny on-call service, which currently operates on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. might add another day of the week such as Monday, Thursday or Friday.
• Many of the regular routes, including the West Des Moines/Clive flex route, in which the bus deviates from its regular route to pick up passengers who have made prior arrangements, and the University Avenue route to West Des Moines might have more evening service, with the last trips leaving the DART station downtown around 9:30 p.m. or thereabouts, Tishim noted in his proposal.

Riders are encouraged to fill out a form, either online or at the DART station. This form has questions about what routes riders use, where riders go when riding DART, what times they use DART’s services, recommendations from the riders and more. Questions cover the regular routes, the on-call routes and the flex routes.

The survey will be online at DART’s website through April 28. The link to the survey is https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2013_Service_Proposal.

The meetings comprise the first step in implementing the 2013 changes. After input is gathered from the public through surveys, the DART commissioners plan to vote on the finalized recommendations in May.  Plans call for DART staff to build service and hold open houses during the summer. In August, expanded service will begin.

More information about the long-range plans for DART’s future plans for transit services to the Des Moines area can be found at http://www.ridedart.com/dart-forward-2035.cfm.

For more information about routes and times, visit the website www.ridedart.com or call 515-283-8100.