DART Fares Cover Less Than 10% of Operating Expenses

DART is in deep, very deep financially. In 2009 their operating loss was $466 million dollars before other revenues were put in to pay their bill. In 2011 DART’s operating loss was $560 million.

Passenger revenue is 2011 was about $57 million, not even 10% of their operating cost. Only is big government will an entity survive with these kinds of losses.

You can see their 2011 CAFR at

http://www.dart.org/ShareRoot/debtdocuments/FY2011ComprehensiveAnnualFinancialReport.pdf.

Today DART fare are going up, some of them twice what they have been. The DMN has a story in the paper about it today: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/20121202-dart-fare-increases-begin-monday.ece.

New DART fares
Category                      System     Regional

2-hour pass                    $2.50        $5
Day pass                        $5             $10
7-day pass                      $25           $50
Monthly pass                   $80           $160
Annual pass                    $800         $1,600
Midday 5-hour pass*       $1.75       $3.50
Corporate                        $600         $1,200*

These passes would be valid between 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday only.

A peek at the Texas Bond Review Board shows DART has amassed a debt service of almost $7 billion dollars in their short life, http://www.brb.state.tx.us/lgs_search.aspx?action=osd.

If DART ever wants to be fully self-supporting (like private business has to be), they are going to have to raise fare so high that people will refuse to ride. $25 for a 2 hour pass will be hard for people to pay.