Electric Bus Service Coming To Fort Worth's West 7th District

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Can cars, pedestrians, bikes and buses safely co-exist in the same lane of traffic?

The city of Fort Worth believes they can as it unveils a new bus service in the popular West 7th Entertainment District.

A Tesla-inspired electric bus service called Dash is coming to Fort Worth as early as next year. The idea is to get visitors and commuters from downtown Fort Worth to the cultural district...fast. The bus will run every ten to 15 minutes. The city believes buses need their own lane on West 7th.

"It's critically important that the Dash be given priority, because when we are all sitting in our cars, we want to be able to see that the Dash is going faster than what I could do in my car," said Brandy O'Quinn who is promoting Dash for the City of Fort Worth.

The so-called transit "jump" lane would be for Dash buses, regular city buses and bikes.

In some places, there would also be parking. Tonight, at a public presentation of the city's plans, some people who live in the area said the jump lanes are an accident waiting to happen. They asked why the bikes can't go to side streets, where there is less traffic and wouldn't be sharing lanes with a bus and other vehicles.

The changes are part of a $7.8 million project by Fort Worth to improve flow of traffic along West 7th. The entertainment district is bustling with bars, restaurants and new residents. The people who live there say they hope the city accommodates residents, not just visitors.

"We support the Dash but think it should be for commuters too, which means starting at 7 in the morning, not 10 a-m," said Susan Wilcox of the Montgomery Plaza homeowners' association

The city's original plan for the transit jump lane didn't include parking, but they added it back when people said they didn't want to lose any parking.