The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board of Directors has approved $24.6 million in total contracts for security and cleaning upgrades, amid public concerns.
The DART board approved a $16.8 million contract with Preferred Technologies, LLC, for system-wide upgrades to camera and monitoring equipment, officials announced November 19. The agency also approved a $7.8 million contract with Texas Elite Facility Services to boost cleaning services.
“These two contracts deliver on our $2 billion DART Transform promise to modernize our vehicles, stations, and facilities, and future-proof our system,” said DART CEO Nadine Lee in a press release. “It’s critical that we invest in infrastructure and services, like cleaning, that ensure our riders choose DART at every point in their journey across the region.”
The security contract will upgrade surveillance across the system, replacing thousands of cameras and “unifying DART’s hardware and software” – the first major overhaul since 2010. This will cover trains, buses, platforms, bus stops, and facilities, and includes “advanced analytics” to improve response times.
Officials hope the overhaul will help collaboration between agency operations and DART Police. The agency’s operations and technology departments have been coordinating with the department to determine top priority locations, and DART will begin work in early 2026.
DART Board Chair Randall Bryant said the agency has a “duty to maintain a secure system for North Texas,” adding security is one of his major priorities.
“This upgraded camera system is part of a multi-step process to ensuring our trains, buses and facilities are as secure as possible for our employees and riders,” Bryant said in the release. “These new cameras not only provide security, but also allow us to operate more efficiently.”
The cleaning contract will fund cleaning services for bus stops and shelters, aiming to build quality control by integrating the vendor with DART’s internal maintenance system. The upgrades will increase the frequency of cleaning for bus shelters.
The upgrades will also standardize DART and vendor inspections, which officials hope will increase their frequency. Meanwhile, DART is set to install 1,200 “next-generation shelters,” 60 of which are already in service.
The improvements come as DART has been struggling with rising crime across the system.
Group A offenses – including arson, assault, robbery, and drug crimes – reported by DART Police have grown 5.45% overall since January, according to the most recent data in the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).
Within these offenses, crimes against persons fell by 20.6% and crimes against property by 25.33%, while crimes against society increased by 27.8%. The most common “crimes against society” were drug, drug paraphernalia, and weapons violations.
On November 7, gunshots erupted on a DART train near Akard Station in downtown Dallas – directly across the street from DART headquarters, as The Dallas Express reported. Police arrested one suspect, and the victim was in stable condition at the time.
A 53-year-old Irving restaurant manager was shot and killed near Market Center Station on September 29. A week later, a man wearing a “Jason Voorhees-style hockey mask” opened fire on a train near the Pearl/Arts District Station, killing a 43-year-old passenger.
Meanwhile, mayors of suburban member cities have expressed increasing frustrations about DART lines bringing homeless people from Dallas into their communities, where they cannot receive the same services, as The Dallas Express reported. This adds to mounting concerns about imbalances in the agency’s spending and governance.
DART spent more than $2.4 million on executive bonuses from 2020 to 2024, and more than $800,000 total on executive bonuses last year alone, as The Dallas Express exclusively reported.
Meanwhile, DART is billions of dollars in debt. This is divided among member cities, which, former Plano City Councilman Shelby Williams said, poses an “exit barrier” to keep them from leaving.
Earlier in November, four cities – Highland Park, Farmers Branch, Plano, and Irving – advanced elections on withdrawing from DART, as The Dallas Express reported. In May 2026, the cities will let their citizens decide whether to stay or leave.