DART appears to be negotiating with some cities ahead of the March 18 deadline to rescind elections.
Farmers Branch, Highland Park, University Park, Irving, and Plano have called withdrawal elections on May 2, in which voters will decide whether to leave DART, as The Dallas Express reported.
DART has been negotiating to ease member cities’ concerns, with potential compromises like governance reform. As The Dallas Express reported at the time, the DART board is currently Dallas-dominated, while some suburbs are forced to share a single representative.
The Dallas City Council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee met on January 20, where members passed a 4-3 motion, allowing City Manager Kim Tolbert to negotiate Dallas’ voting power on the DART board at 40-50%.
The motion gave Tolbert a “percentage range in which to negotiate,” shows support for giving at least one DART board representative to each member city, and “agrees that no one city will have majority voting power,” according to a January 22 memo from Tolbert.
Interim Director of Gov. Affairs Jake Anderson told the committee a proposed reform would give cities “weighted” votes so that some board members would have a stronger say than others.
Asst. City Manager Dev Rastogi also told the committee many cities “currently have fractional representation on the board,” but an alternative could ensure each city has at least one board member. She contrasted Dallas’ power over DART with that of similar systems across America.
“We looked at other peer agencies, and the closest peer agency to ours with the highest percentage is the Minneapolis transit system,” Rastogi said. “They are the majority city in the low 40s, if I’m remembering correctly the percentage.”
Some city council members, however, said the potential changes could unfairly reduce Dallas’ sway.
Councilwoman Lorie Blair asked about the weighted voting system and said she thought 40% could be too low.
“We would lose the total voice, well, the majority voice of DART,” Blair said. “I get where there may need to be some restructuring, but can we have some more options?”
Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn expressed concern that the plan could give suburbs too much power.
“Dallas would have 40%, that means the suburbs have 60%. All it takes is one open seat or one member appointed by Dallas to miss, and they have the majority – they have that two-thirds vote,” Mendelsohn said. “This is putting our city at risk for unknown reasons.”
Mendelsohn asked if DART has ever been penalized structurally or financially for missing targets in ridership, timeliness, safety, or cost. Anderson said he was “not aware of any penalties.”
“The response to underperformance always seems to be government restructuring. Rather than cost control, rather than route rationalization or some service discipline, we’re talking about governance again,” she said. “I think this is a terrible idea to change governance models, and it says something actually quite unflattering about Dallas City Council that you would even bring this to us.”
Councilman Paul Ridley opposed the proposed reform, calling 40% “unreasonably low.” He called for more options and presented his own alternative plan.
“I recognize that Dallas has a significant voice in this overall discussion, and that we should continue to be a collaborative partner,” Ridley said. “As a result, I think it’s important to send the message that Dallas is willing to consider governance variances from the current system.”
Councilwoman Paula Blackmon expressed support for “one city, one vote” and called for working with other cities to bring them on board.
“If it’s on the 40%, I know that we need to have our partners know that we’re willing to negotiate,” Blackmon said. “I would love to hope that the door is still open on that to a degree, but it’s certainly better than the 20-25% that has been batted around. I would just hope that we always are very mindful of keeping alliances.”
Councilman Zarin Gracey said he supported the 40% voting power, but he asked what other cities are giving in return.
“What other compromises have been made on the other side of the table?” Gracey asked.
Long-Term Concerns
Member cities have grown increasingly frustrated with DART’s governance, service, and funding, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
“As you all are aware, over the past few years, some of the 13 member cities in DART have expressed concerns that fall into three major buckets – the governance structure, service delivery, as well as the agency’s funding model,” Anderson said in the recent meeting.
Dallas currently dominates the DART board, while smaller cities like Farmers Branch and Plano share a single representative. Former Board Chair Gary Slagel represented Highland Park, University Park, Addison, and Richardson.
Meanwhile, a 2023 study found many suburban member cities were paying tens of millions of dollars more to DART than they received in services, The Dallas Express exclusively reported.
For example, Plano contributed $109.6 million and received back $44.6 million in services. At the same time, Dallas contributed just $407.8 million but received $690.5 million back.
As of December 2025, DART ridership still lagged behind pre-COVID levels, The Dallas Express also reported. Recent growth had been flattening, and Dallas accounted for 75% of ridership at that point.
To address some of the cities’ financial concerns, DART pledged on January 21 to refrain from taking on new debt until after November’s elections.
“We welcome feedback from our partners on solutions that benefit all cities while ensuring DART continues to provide critical public transportation services for our residents and communities,” DART Chair Randall Bryant said at the time.
The next step in the process will be a rate study that explores the costs of transit services by mode.
DART plans to share the early results of its rate study with the City Manager Working group on January 29, helping inform further discussion of the agency’s funding model, according to the memo. On February 12, mayors and city managers of member cities will convene to discuss governance and funding options.
Carrollton and Farmers Branch held elections in 1985 to withdraw from DART, but they ultimately failed, The Dallas Express previously reported. In 1989, Coppell and Flower Mound successfully left the agency. In 1996, four cities voted on withdrawing again, but residents chose to stay.
Member cities may withdraw from DART once every six years; May is the closest opportunity to opt out. If cities rescind elections, or if voters decide to stay, the next window to leave would be 2032.
