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DCTA sees increase in ridership
By Heather M. Goodwin, hgoodwin@starlocalnews.com
More people than ever are taking advantage of the public transportation provided in North Texas.
The Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA), which serves Lewisville, Highland Village, Denton and Carrollton, recently released its first quarter ridership numbers. Overall, the agency experienced a 3-percent growth during October 2012 to December 2012. The A-train carried 42 percent more passengers during the same period and 43 percent more than the previous January.
"We've been seeing significant growth," said Dee Leggett, vice president of program development. "We've especially seen significant growth with our Lewisville connect system."
"We're seeing growth all around. In the first quarter of 2013, ridership was 29 percent higher on the Lewisville connect than the previous quarter in 2012," Leggett said. "We think that shows that the system is growing and maturing. It's a good sign that we're having to order new bus."
Route 21 serves DCTA's Hebron station and connects with the A-train. Leggett said there's significant employment in that area as well as a couple of charter schools, which she said are driving ridership. There is approximately a 90- to 120-day delivery time for the new bus. Leggett said DCTA hopes to have it in service by this August, in time for school to start.
"We have students from all over North Texas who use our system. We started seeing increased ridership in August when we launched mid-day service, and it's continued to grow," Leggett said.
Leggett said DCTA would possibly make changes to Route 21 to improve the service.
"Our ridership fluctuates during the summer. We have routes that go to UNT, NCTC and TWU," Leggett said. "We want to position our changes to adequately serve peak demand."
Another area that has seen improvement is DCTA's mid-day service, which began in August.
"We've been really pleased with the impact on A-train ridership due to mid-day service," Leggett said. "Ridership was 42 percent higher in 2013 than 2012 on the A-train. Mid-day service is giving options to riders who might want to come home and more options for students."
Mid-day rail service closed the 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. gap in DCTA's schedule.
"Our recent changes were in direct response to customer feedback," said Jim Cline, DCTA president. "Clearly, our customers have responded positively to these changes. As we plan for the next stages of service improvements, we are excited about what the future holds."
DCTA also began providing expanded Friday night and Saturday service. Trains leave the Trinity Mills station at about 12:30 a.m., and some leave the Lewisville station as late as 1:30 a.m.
"We've seen the most success with our late night service when it is somehow tied with special affairs, such as the state fair or holiday lighting ceremonies," Leggett said. "We're starting to work with American Airlines Center now that teams are back in season to capitalize on that ridership. On normal night ridership isn't where we want, so right now we're seeing how we can take advantage of the service and make it more successful."
In January, DCTA also began a weekday evening southbound A-train departure to better serve university evening classes and later work schedules.
As its ridership continues to increase, DCTA is looking ahead to August, when service changes are implemented. DCTA has planned three community open house events, which will offer an opportunity to discuss August 2013 service modifications, share the agency's long term service plans, distribute rail safety awareness material and share information regarding the agency's annual program of projects, current capital projects and Title VI policies. A Twitter chat session has also been scheduled as an option for those who are unable to attend one of the events.
"DCTA's service plan and service modifications are based on community feedback as well as the agency's operational and financial constraints," Leggett said. "We hope to engage the community with an open format during these events, providing community members the opportunity to have one-on-one discussions with staff."
The open houses are open to all Denton County residents. DCTA will host its first event at 6:30 p.m. April 11 at the Highland Village Council Chamber, 1000 Highland Village Road. It will host another event at 10 a.m. April 20 at the Lewisville Municipal Annex, 1197 W. Main St. and its final event at 1 p.m. April 20 at the Downtown Denton Transit Center, 604 E. Hickory St. DCTA will also host a Twitter forum from 8 to 9 p.m. April 11. Follow @RideDCTA & #DCTAPubMtg.
"Our hope is that people will stop by and we can engage them even if for a few minutes," Leggett said. "We're letting customers talk to us, rather than us talking to the customer."
Persons with hearing or sight interpretive service needs are asked to contact DCTA at least two business days in advance of the meeting at 972-221-4600 or dctainfo@dcta.net.
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