The Irving City Council voted 9-0 on November 6 to let residents decide whether to leave DART in a special election on May 2, 2026. This marks the fourth member city this week – behind Plano, Highland Park, and Farmers Branch – to advance withdrawal elections.
If voters decide to leave DART, the agency will immediately terminate service after the election. Irving Mayor Rick Stopfer said city officials have already been discussing services with Uber and Via Transportation.
“We are getting bids from them that we would use internally. They would also provide the paratransit,” Stopfer said in the meeting. “We’ve met with them on several occasions.”
DART member cities have been growing increasingly frustrated with the agency’s spending, governance, and safety, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Member cities may opt out of DART once every six years, so the next closest window is 2026.
Carrollton and Farmers Branch held similar elections in 1985 to withdraw from DART, but chose to stay, as The Dallas Express reported. Coppell and Flower Mound successfully left in 1989. Four more cities voted to stay in 1996.
“There’s this perception that we don’t want DART, we don’t like DART,” Stopfer said. “The real issue is, we’re not getting our citizens taken care of.”
Stopfer emphasized the measure would put the issue before voters, not automatically withdraw from DART.
“It’s a determination by the residents who pay the money,” Stopfer said. “That’s the bottom line.”
DART Board Chair Randall Bryant said he wrote to the council members earlier this week, requesting that they postpone the measure for 30 days. But he expected Irving officials would advance the withdrawal vote.
“After two nights in a row of doing this, I already know how this will end,” Bryant said. “This plan will fail… I implore you, please put off this vote. Continue what is left of negotiations – true negotiations.”
A Deeper History
Member cities have been growing frustrated with alleged unfairness in DART’s spending and governance, as The Dallas Express reported.
Irving was the only city to purchase land for DART’s Orange Line and give it to the agency, according to Stopfer. “But we get no credit for that.”
Irving was also the only city that did not get betterments for multiple stations, leaving residents to pay for the stations with their tax dollars, Stopfer said. He also pointed to a fire station, which the city risked for a nearby DART line.
“We’ve been treated wrongly. We have not been treated the same,” Stopfer said. “We’re at a point where we feel like we can’t get answers from DART.”
In the meeting, DART CEO Nadine Lee highlighted Irving’s significant use of the agency’s services, which is projected to exceed 2.7 million boardings, accompanied by steady ridership growth over the past three years.
“DART has continued to work in good faith to address your concerns,” Lee said. “We ask you to continue working with us to build on the incredible momentum we’ve created together, instead of withdrawing.”
The agency is billions of dollars in debt. This is divided among member cities, posing a likely exit barrier that would deter member cities from leaving.
Meanwhile, DART spent more than $2.4 million on executive bonuses from 2020 to 2024 – more than $800,000 in total on executive bonuses last year alone, as The Dallas Express exclusively reported.
Crime on DART lines has grown in 2025, as The Dallas Express also reported. Group A Offenses – including arson, assault, robbery, and drugs – rose almost 44% since last year. Excluding drug crimes, offenses would have fallen more than 6%.
DART Police Chief Charles Cato defended the agency in the recent meeting, citing a close partnership with the Irving Police Department. He emphasized the agency’s role in handling 911 calls on its lines, and said Irving has only seen 42 Group A offenses from January 1 to October 15.
“There’s a lot been made about crime and issues,” Cato said. “And yes, there are things we work on every day – the men and women of the DART police department – to make our system safe and clean and keep it reliable for everyone.”
Dallas maintains a vast majority on the DART board, while cities like Highland Park share a single representative on the DART board with three other member cities, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
In the meeting, Stopfer – a DART board member since 2013 – shared his experience on the agency’s governing body. “I’m in the meeting with them every time, but I’m marginalized,” he said.
City Councilman Dennis Webb said he supported DART in the 1996 withdrawal election, but no longer.
“Who in here thinks it is right to have one city control the DART board?” Webb said. “No, it’s not fair, but that’s what we have to deal with.”
Suburbs like Plano paid tens of millions more into DART than they received services in 2023, as The Dallas Express exclusively reported. However, Irving actually received more in return, paying $102.2 million in sales taxes and receiving $123.5 million in services in return.
Still, Stopfer said these numbers fail to account for Irving’s other sacrifices.
“There was nothing in there for what the City of Irving has done,” he said.
The DART board of directors approved a “General Mobility Program” in March, which returns 5% of annual sales tax revenue to select member cities. Several still went to the state legislature, seeking more permanent solutions – to reform the DART board, and to redirect some of their sales tax revenue.
In July, DART Board Chair Gary Slagel demanded member cities drop reforms in exchange for GMP funding, as The Dallas Express exclusively reported. Carrollton Mayor Steve Babick said at the time DART had made the compromise a “poison pill.”
The Regional Transportation Council of the North Central Texas Council of Governments offered on November 3 to assist DART and its member cities in finding a solution. As The Dallas Express previously reported, NCTCOG is a metropolitan planning organization — essentially a shadow government — that controls how billions in federal transportation dollars are spent across the region.
Webb said he sits on the Transit 2.0 subcommittee of the RTC, which aims to bring cities together into a regional transit system.
“Your Friscos, your Arlingtons, your Grand Prairies, your Mansfields – why are they not running to get in line to become part of this regional transportation system?” Webb said. “Because they don’t want to give up their one-cent sales tax, and they use their one-cent sales tax to kick our behinds in economic development.”
Slagel, also a member of the RTC, asked for patience with the regional transit plan.
“It’s worth taking a look at it, I think it deserves that. I would ask you to continue to consider not moving forward with your election,” Slagel said. “There’s a significant need to be able to move people, and not depend totally on building new highways and toll roads.”
Councilman David Pfaff said Irving is set to send $120 million – or half – of its sales taxes to DART this year.
“Mr. Slagel, we really would like to see the revenue model as a fee for service, and really sit down with y’all and see what we can do,” Pfaff said. “We need our kids to go to school. We need our people to get around the city, to get to grocery stores. We need this service, and we’re willing to sit down and work with you.”