Kevin Roden – 08.11.10

As the Denton Record Chronicle reported this weekend, the DCTA team met with the Denton City Council on August 3 to discuss additional rail service options – all in response to widespread criticism from the citizens and concerns voiced from both city and business leaders regarding recent announcements that later evening and weekend service would not be a part of the initial A-Train service plan.  You can access the entire powerpoint presentation given to the council right here.

Showing great responsiveness to these concerns, DCTA presented 4 options in addition to their latest proposal given during a series of public meetings in July (which included only “peak” weekday service with the possibility of some special events).  Those options are as follows:

During the meeting, Mayor Mark Burroughs called for consideration of yet another option: give later evening and weekend service a chance for one year. DCTA has promised to look into that option – but it is a step of faith for everyone.  It is difficult to assess the need for something that is not yet available.  Understanding this dilemma and concerned that the current official surveys were only targeting those who planned to use this service primarily for commuter purposes, THINKDENTON.com developed and ran a survey aimed at giving DCTA and city leaders some additional data by which to make their decisions in the coming days.

This survey, along with access to all the official data, has been given to DCTA officials and city council.  What you have here is a snapshot of the results and a brief commentary on some of the questions.

SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS
The survey was promoted primarily through social networking means.  258 people responded to the survey despite it being offered in the summer months when many are on vacation and most UNT students are still away for the summer.  People between the ages of 18 to 63 participated, with an average age of 32 (this wasn’t a bunch of punk 20 year olds looking for a cheap ride home from their boozed-up nights of revelry).  Nearly 30% of those surveyed have children.  82% of the takers live in Denton.

Here are the results…

In recent days, DCTA officials have fortunately dropped their now infamous “it was only a concept, not a commitment” line in response to the fact that night and evening service has been part of their stated plans ever since the Denton citizens first voted on the proposal in 2003.  This survey shows that 91% were under the impression that they were getting something more than what DCTA has been offering in recent months – this can’t simply be explained away as a misunderstanding between the public and DCTA any longer.  And it appears our city council leaders have taken notice.

This shows that this survey hit its target audience – a mere 3.9% of those surveyed see this train as a commuter option for them.  Over 95% hope to use the service for recreational purposes, with nearly 55% seeing recreation as the only way they would use the A-Train.  If these results are in any way characteristic of the general Denton population, there is reason for much optimism within the offices of DCTA.  They have been touting record ridership of their city bus services and commuter express bus offerings.  This survey is revealing a population who has yet to step foot on a DCTA bus, but is ready, in much greater numbers, to start taking the A-Train for their recreational needs.

In their desire to find ways to cut costs, DCTA officials might take notice of the trend lines with this question – desire for later weekday train service is not equal for all weekdays.  In fact, the demand increases as the week progresses with Thursday and Friday options highly sought after.  The possibility exists where later weekday service can be initially targeted to these two days only as a compromise position between those who want later weekday service and those who want to rain a train within their financial means.

I love the results of this question – it shows the temperament of the responders.  DCTA, no doubt, has heard a lot of unreasonable suggestions these last few months about how to run train operations.  Even though the survey tempted the survey taker with the possibility of service until 2am, most resisted with the vast majority agreeing that coordinating its cut-off with the DART line makes sense.

This also reveals the possibility of conceiving things a bit differently for these non-commuter train runs.  Is it possible that there is a model other than the typical regular continuous service paradigm?  What if DCTA marketed its later weekday evening and weekend rail service completely differently than it’s weekday commuter service – even to the point of giving that particular service a unique name?  Is it possible to think about Saturday service as a series of times the train leaves and returns to Denton throughout the day – could citizens learn to arrange their outtings around these set times without the expectation of some sort of hourly service running all day?  This question aimed to raise that possibility – and there might be cost savings to be had here.

NOW WHAT?
The responsiveness shown by the DCTA team is encouraging and displays an openness to citizen concerns .  Thanks to everyone who has sent an email, showed up to a meeting, and contacted your city council member.  Thanks to our city leaders who have been working both in public and behind the scenes to push this issue.  But we would be out of line if we didn’t also thank the DCTA team for showing a great amount of good faith to the public in recent days.

No decision has been made as of yet – DCTA is continuing to take public comments through August 23.  Discussions with the Board and its Committees will take place through September and October with a final decision coming down on October 28.

If the suggestion of Mayor Burroughs is adopted to allow for a trial year of later night and weekend service, then the ball goes back in our court.  I was asked by a member of the DCTA team this candid question: Realistically, do you see us able to withdraw service if the pilot program is either unsuccessful or sales tax doesn’t return to make it sustainable? My answer: if the definition of “success” is clearly defined, reasonable, and communicated, then there can be no room for justifiable complaining if we fail to do out part to make the A-Train a success.  But I am optimistic – I am ceaseslessly amazed at the ingenuity, creativity, savvy, and drive of the people of Denton.

Stay tuned for more on this…