By Bill Zeeble, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-892660.mp3
Dallas, TX – Dallas Area Rapid Transit - DART - says it's short 15 to 20 million dollars in tax revenues this year because of the economic downturn. Riders now face what it calls profound change. KERA's Bill Zeeble has more.
DART budgeted $388 million this year, but will only seen about $370 million, according to spokesperson Morgan Lyons.
Lyons: DART's going to look very different in the next few years. We'll probably have cuts in bus service. We'll probably have cuts in rail service. Some bus routes may go away. Bus service may not be as frequent. We've just got to look at everything out there to make this work.
Irving is among DART's member cities. Several rail stops along the Orange line to DFW Airport are now under construction. Lyons says those will be completed. But Irving Council member Rick Stopfer is worried. He says hundreds of thousands of people work in Irving. Moving some by rail could save them time and traffic aggrevation while also helping to reduce air pollution.
Stopfer: Challenges are greater today than they've ever been. The federal government is not looking at any type of earmarking. It is a set-back and it is a challenge I wish we didn't have to undertake.
DART's Lyons says everything - from jobs to future projects - will be on the budget table as staff and board members consider cuts.
Lyons: We need the economy to pick up, we need people to get back to work and when they get back to work, they'll generate sales tax and that's what we need.
Lyons says DART will decide what to cut then seek public reaction before it makes a move. Staff and the board have the summer to work out the difficult details before going over a budget in September.