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Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker speaks about the future of transportation in Tarrant County during an Aug. 29, 2024, Candid Conversation event at Texas Wesleyan University. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/FutureTransportation_Aug29_CamiloDiaz0226-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/FutureTransportation_Aug29_CamiloDiaz0226-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>Tarrant County leaders said they plan to lobby the state Legislature to provide millions of dollars for more funding for needed transit projects, including basic maintenance for local highways.Mayor Mattie Parker, a member of Texas Big City Mayors — a group consisting of the mayors of the state’s biggest cities — said the state funding is needed to lessen the burden on cities such as Fort Worth that devote much of their budgets to public safety measures involving transportation.“The state of Texas has to come to the table to help us with this,” she said.Cities are limited in how much they can financially support because of restrictions from the Texas Legislature, North Central Texas Council of Governments Transportation Director Michael Morris said.Last year, the group of mayors sought funding for mental health issues. This year, Parker said, the group will focus on transit funding because it can take 10 to 15 years to design a transportation system. The group’s legislative agenda is still being worked on before the Legislature meets early next year to determine funding priorities.The funding discussion came during the Fort Worth Report’s “Candid Conversation” on the future of transportation in Tarrant County. The event, moderated by the Report’s publisher and CEO Chris Cobler, was Aug. 29 at Texas Wesleyan University. Parker, Morris, Arlington Mayor Jim Ross and Trinity Metro President and CEO Richard W. Andreski participated in the discussion that looked at the future — and funding challenges — of local transportation.“We are soon to be the third-largest metro region in the country. … We have to have transit to get Texans across Texas, period,” Parker said of the division between Tarrant and Dallas officials over progress on high-speed rail.Fort Worth’s neighbor to the east has to remember that the metro region’s growth is on the west side, Parker said. By 2100, the Parker County city of Aledo, currently home to more than 5,800 residents — will be the population center of the Fort Worth-Dallas area, the mayor said. To accommodate millions more residents, rail projects need to be planned — regardless of whether funding exists or not, Morris and other speakers stressed. Morris said a high-speed rail system could be built within 15 years, but with innovative funding that could happen faster.Parker said she formed a committee that will work to determine what an urban rail future will look like — and cost — in Fort Worth. Such a system would enable residents to visit city entertainment districts, including the Stockyards, the future Panther Island and Cultural District, without clogging roads.“We often start with a vision without knowing where the money is coming from,” she said.Ross agrees that regionalization is needed for a high-speed rail proposal that would connect Arlington and Fort Worth to Dallas and Houston.“I don’t give a damn about who passes a resolution,” Ross said, referring to a Dallas City Council vote opposing high-speed rail in that city’s central business district. High-speed rail, he said, is going to happen, “and nobody is going to stop it from happening.”Ross said Arlington’s costs to improve public transportation, including whether to join an existing transit authority, would be high, possibly $40 million to $100 million per year.Arlington Mayor Jim Ross jokes with panelists during an Aug. 29, 2024, Candid Conversation on the future of transportation in Tarrant County at Texas Wesleyan University. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)Along with the Via rideshare system, Arlington already is using autonomous taxis to move about 1,000 riders a week, Ross said. By 2026, the city expects air taxis to be operational, making the city the first in the nation to have them.“Stop saying that Arlington doesn’t have transit,” Morris said, referring to the on-demand rideshare program and other services that cover the city’s 99 square miles. Morris praised Arlington’s tech-forward approach to transit, although it has been criticized in the past for lacking mass transit.Arlington skipped five generations of public transportation, Morris said. Public transit authorities are now deciding their futures and rolling out new tech such as the planned air taxis, he said.With its growing status in the region, Ross declared that this is no longer the DFW metroplex but rather “the DFWA metroplex.”As North Texas grows, Arlington and Dallas will be landlocked, but Fort Worth will still have room to expand. Future transportation options, Morris has said, include an elevated gondola-style system called Whoosh by Swyft Cities, a Google spinoff company, that could be used in Arlington, Dallas, DeSoto, Frisco and Plano. The system could be used in Arlington, for example, to move people around the Entertainment District, where top attractions like AT&T Stadium, Globe Life Field and Six Flags Over Texas are located. Cities that are succeeding are leaning into transit and seeing big rewards with increased economic development and more vibrant communities, Andreski said.Public transportation will also aid in educational access. “We need to do a better job of serving these various communities,” he said.Morris, who leads regional transit discussions with elected and appointed officials on the Regional Transportation Council, said increasing density in communities will help improve transportation.Fort Worth and the surrounding area, he said, needs higher density because more people translates into lower costs for transit.“The whole key of this is, get out of your swim lane, get out of your silo,” Morris said. Morris pointed to Parker’s recent call for Fort Worth ISD to improve academic outcomes as an example of that. Everything is connected, he said, and local governments cannot work alone.Things have changed since he was younger, Ross said. People want walkable, urban neighborhoods with greater density over white picket-fenced yards — in fact, people want little to no yards,” he said. Morris said infill development is needed before the area’s population hits 12 million.While Fort Worth explores rail expansion to entertainment districts, there is a need for more frequent bus routes, Andreski said.“Frequency is about freedom,” Andreski said, adding that improved bus routes will enable people to go where they want when they want to.Trinity Metro, he said, is shifting the number of routes while increasing their frequency.“One thing that is going to stop progress for us, though? We invest about $100 per capita in our city,” Andreski said. Peer cities invest about $200, so those areas do more and experiment, he added. Trinity Metro will work with every cent since 1 in 3 people used the agency’s services in the past year, Andreski said. But as demand grows, the system will need more financial support from the cities it serves. Community members listen to panelists discuss the future of transit in Tarrant County on Aug. 29, 2024, at Texas Wesleyan University. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)Morris said the region could be host to massive conventions by connecting the convention centers of Fort Worth, Arlington and Dallas.“Imagine the conventions we could have?” he said.Morris says DFW is known for its ability to build consensus. He plans to lead by that example so the region leads the way on transit going forward.“Let’s connect the dots,” he said. “Let’s not take the easy way out.”Adds Ross: “There has to be a unified approach. If you want to get s—- done, work together. … Learn to respect each other again.”Eric E. Garcia is a senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.Event sponsorsThe Fort Worth Report’s transit conversation was sponsored by Tarleton State University, presenting sponsor; Trinity Metro, a gold sponsor; North Texas Community Foundation, series food sponsor; BNSF Railway, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth, all silver series sponsors; Mental Health Connection of Tarrant County, Texas Wesleyan University, United Way of Tarrant County, each a series supporting sponsor; and Corsair Consulting, a supporting sponsor.Tarleton State University, which opened a Fort Worth campus at 10850 Texan Rider Drive in Fort Worth, now offers 24 undergraduate programs with more expected in 2025, Dr. James Hurley told participants at the Fort Worth Report’s Candid Conversation on transportation. The university, based in Stephenville, is celebrating its 125th anniversary and has a record enrollment of about 18,000 students in Stephenville, Fort Worth, Waco, Bryan and online. The Fort Worth campus continues to expand its footprint with the opening of the Interprofessional Education Building, Hurley said.