When four cities advanced withdrawal elections from Dallas Area Rapid Transit last week, one of the agency’s most vocal allies showed up – the Dallas Area Transit Alliance.
Highland Park, Farmers Branch, Plano, and Irving voted last week to hold elections to decide whether to withdraw from DART, as The Dallas Express reported. Dozens of speakers objected to holding pullout election efforts, many from DATA, which markets itself as a “rider-run advocacy group.”
DATA Vice President Tyler Wright told The Dallas Express the group is composed of DART riders from across the service area, but anyone is welcome to join.
“Our mission is to advocate for better public transit in the greater Dallas area,” he said. “DATA is fighting these withdrawal efforts because we ourselves are regular DART riders who will be negatively impacted if DART services were to stop in any current member city.”
Should cities vote to leave DART, Wright expressed concern about the continuity of service by potential replacement agencies. When Irving’s council advanced the withdrawal vote for 2026, officials said they were already in discussions with Uber and Via Transportation.
“We look forward to sharing the rider’s perspective with both DART and City leaders on how to improve regional mobility,” Wright said.
If voters withdraw in 2026, DART will cut off cities’ services while requiring them to keep paying a share of the agency’s massive debt for several years, as The Dallas Express reported. Former Plano Councilman Shelby Williams referred to this as an “exit barrier” to keep cities from leaving.
Pushing To Keep Cities In DART
Ahead of the recent votes on withdrawal elections, DATA orchestrated large-scale opposition through the left-wing platform Action Network.
“We want to pack Plano City Hall with supporters of public transit speaking their stories,” DATA told its supporters. “We really want it to be primarily Plano residents and commuters speaking and sharing their stories, but anyone is welcome to join.”
DATA used Action Network to spread the word about these meetings and to launch email campaigns to council members, with pre-written messages tailored to each city.
“Many others and I depend on the DART system to get around Plano and the entire metroplex,” reads a pre-written email to Plano council members. “Withdrawal from DART means countless people will lose access to their jobs.”
Action Network has similar templates for Irving, Highland Park, and Farmers Branch. By publication, the platform helped DATA send council members more than 2,300 emails in Plano, more than 1,000 emails in Irving, 441 emails in Farmers Branch, and 216 emails in Highland Park.
The Action Network first emerged during the 2011 Occupy Wall Street protests, according to InfluenceWatch. It helped organize the anti-Keystone XL oil pipeline protests, the March for Our Lives, and the left-wing Women’s March. According to The Federalist, the Action Network helped coordinate anti-Tesla protests this spring, as well as protests for the socialist holiday May Day.
“We use Action Network at DATA as a way to send newsletters to our subscribers and help with letter writing campaigns in support of transit in DFW,” Wright said. “Members are volunteers and self-fund any activities they wish to participate in; we are not a non-profit and do not take donations.”
DATA’s Origins
Member cities have expressed growing frustration with DART’s crime, funding, and governance, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
When cities met in 2024 to consider diverting 25% of sales tax revenue from DART, transit activists from across the 13-member cities came together to launch DATA.
The idea for DATA first emerged in a meeting of 15 people on June 15, 2024, at Cole Park in uptown Dallas, according to the group’s website. The group launched a petition on Change.org on June 16, asking the DART board of directors to reject “funding cuts.”
DATA then held a second meeting on July 20, 2024, at the Metropolitan Building in downtown Dallas. More than 50 people attended the gathering, where the group named its interim co-chairs – Connor Hulla and Wright. Hulla is now the group’s president, and Wright its vice president.
“The Dallas Area Transit Alliance (DATA) was founded in the summer of 2024 in response to cities that passed resolutions in support of bills that would have affected DART’s funding in the 2025 legislative session,” Wright said.
The DART board approved a “General Mobility Program” in March, returning 5% of annual sales tax revenue to several member cities as a compromise. Cities like Plano continued to visit the Texas legislature, seeking more permanent fixes by supporting bills to reform the DART board and allow cities to redirect some sales tax revenue.
In March, DATA held a press conference in Plano against the reforms, according to KERA. More than 24 transit activists attended, including Wright, members of the Democratic Socialists of America North Texas, and members of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which represents DART workers.
In July, Slagel demanded member cities drop the reforms in exchange for GMP funding, as The Dallas Express exclusively reported. At the time, Carrollton Mayor Steve Babick said DART had made the compromise into a “poison pill.”
DATA aims to “safeguard the future of public transit” in the Dallas area, to “compel elected officials to prioritize public transit,” and to “offer practical solutions” for public transit, according to its website.
DART is currently billions of dollars in debt. The agency also spent more than $2.4 million on executive bonuses from 2020 to 2024 – more than $800,000 in 2024 alone, as The Dallas Express exclusively reported.
Meanwhile, Group A offenses – including arson, assault, robbery, and drug crimes – reported by DART Police have grown 8.3% overall since January, according to the most recent data in the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).
Among these offenses, crimes against persons decreased by 18.49%, while crimes against property decreased by 25.93%; however, crimes against society increased by 60.03%. The most common “crimes against society” were drugs, drug paraphernalia, and weapons violations.
Dallas maintains a vast majority on the DART board, while cities like Garland, Glenn Heights, and Rowlett share a single representative on the board.
In the Irving council meeting where officials advanced the withdrawal vote, Mayor Rick Stopfer – a DART board member since 2013 – expressed concern about this imbalance. “I’m in the meeting with them every time, but I’m marginalized.”
Highland Park, Farmers Branch, Irving, and Plano are currently set to hold withdrawal votes in May 2026.
In its Action Network descriptions, DATA notes that council members have until March 6 to rescind the ordinances scheduling withdrawal votes. “Urge them to do so, and to come back to the negotiating table with DART to preserve regional mobility for all.”
DART member cities may only opt out every six years, so the next window to leave is 2026. Time will tell if officials take the opportunity, or if DATA gets its way.