Tuesday, Dallas Area Rapid Transit board members and city officials met to discuss several changes for next year pertaining to DART's usefulness, safety, and the FIFA World Cup.

The transportation and infrastructure committee meeting also addressed what would happen if cities decided to withdraw from using the service. At least four cities have approved holding elections to vote on the matter. Those elections will happen in May of 2026, right before the start of the World Cup. 

DART chair urges compromise as withdrawal threat looms  

"Absolutely, I'm continuing to work with our cities, the leadership of the cities, to ensure we seek compromise and have a win-win solution for all," Bryant said. "I think the value of transit and the value of DART is in question by everyone right now, and that is OK. I think our job is to prove what the true value of our transportation is, and I think we're working feverishly to do that."

Council member Cara Mendelsohn also questioned DART in Dallas, saying Dallas is also not seeing a return on its investment.

"The cities that are growing in North Texas are not the member cities of DART because they're using that penny to take away our businesses and attract sports teams and other things, and we have to make this value proposition worth it," Mendelsohn said.

DART outlines $18 million plan to handle World Cup crowds  

When it comes to the FIFA World Cup, DART said it's ready for the big crowds. 

During the event, DART said it will add additional train cars to certain routes, as well as have certain train lines run every 30 minutes on game days. Charter buses will also be used to take fans to AT&T Stadium. The transit agency said it has budgeted over $18 million to cover its World Cup expenses.

"We are treating this like 39 days of rush hour traffic," said Dee Leggett, a DART executive VP. "What makes this event challenging is that the games are not played in our service areas. So, when we think about planning for this event, we've got to think about how do we leverage our existing services to service the major events that are occurring in our service area, International Broadcast Center, FanFest, the major hotel venues, the other major venues, while also making sure that we can be a regional partner in serving the games that are being played outside of the service area."

As for security, the DART police chief said attacks and theft on trains and buses are down double digits from last year, but added that they have seen an increase in drug-related offenses, as well as an increase in arrests for trespassing and citations for fare evasions.

DART said it has increased security on trains with 100 additional uniformed officers, armed transit security officers, fair enforcement officers and cleaning crews. 

Bryant added that it's response team that pairs officers with Parkland Health social workers will continue through spring 2026. The transit system also hopes to put one uniformed officer on every train car and platform next year.

"What we've seen is the impacts of additional transit security officers that we've added to our system, and so going forward is to add even more, to, of course, get those numbers in a better place but also to drive down perception of where crime is," Bryant said.