Des Moines Area Regional Transit

Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority
Founded 1973
2006 (as transit authority)
Headquarters 620 Cherry Street
Locale Des Moines, IA, United States
Service area urban area
Service type bus service, express bus service, paratransit, vanpool
Routes 26
Stops 1,642
Hubs 1
Fleet 244
Daily ridership 12,055 (FY 2013)[1]
Website ridedart.com

Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) operates mass transit service in the Des Moines metropolitan area.

History

DART was originally founded in 1973 as the Des Moines Metropolitan Transit Authority, commonly known as the MTA. Formed by a partnership of the cities of Des Moines, West Des Moines, Clive, Windsor Heights, and Urbandale. The MTA eventually developed a 14-county carpool and vanpool system in addition to its bus system.[2]

By 2006, population growth in varying regions of central Iowa led to Polk County and nineteen cities forming a regional transportation agency following changes to Iowa law in 2005.[3]

Sunday service was added for the first time in 2007. In 2008, a free shuttle linked downtown Des Moines with the Iowa State Capitol. In 2012, a $21 million bus transfer station was opened on the south end of downtown, ending decades of using Walnut Street as a transit mall.

Structure

DART utilizes a hub and spoke system, designed to favor commuters, as opposed to point-to-point system.[4] All routes run through downtown Des Moines. In 1985, Walnut Street, traditionally a retail center for the city, was repurposed as a transit mall, with traffic banned during daytime hours in order to enable bus transfers.[5] This system was replaced by the $21 million DART Central Station in 2012.

Route List

Local Service

Express Service

Shuttles

Flex

On Call

References

  1. ↑ "FY 2013 Annual Report" (PDF). DART.
  2. ↑ Hancock, Jason (October 22, 2006). "Miller hopes DART scores a bull's-eye". Business Record.
  3. ↑ Conetzkey, Chris (March 27, 2010). "DART's budget: Exploring the need for route reductions". Business Record.
  4. ↑ Taylor, Chad (September 6, 2012). "Two weeks on the bus". Cityview.
  5. ↑ "Walnut Street Functional Programming" (PDF). Genus Landscape Architects. September 2011.

External links

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