Dallas' Highland Park votes to leave Texas' second-largest public transit system

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Transportation
Dallas’ Highland Park votes to leave Texas’ second-largest public transit system

Voters in Highland Park chose to leave Dallas Area Rapid Transit amid complaints that the transit service isn’t worth the cost.

by Joshua Fechter and Colleen DeGuzman
May 3, 2026, 6:21 a.m. Central Updated May 3, 2026, 10:23 a.m. Central



A DART bus cruises down South Westmoreland Road in Dallas on Feb. 2, 2020. Duy Vu for The Texas Tribune

DALLAS — Dallas Area Rapid Transit, the state’s second largest public transit agency, fractured Saturday as voters in one suburb chose to leave the transit system.

Highland Park will pull out of DART, according to election returns Saturday. It’s the first time any city has pulled up its stake in the agency since 1989 when Flower Mound and Coppell opted to leave.

Voters in Addison and University Park also weighed in on proposals to leave the system but chose to remain in the agency. This leaves 12 cities connected through DART.

Nearly 70% of voters in Highland Park decided to discontinue DART in the town, according to final but unofficial returns. The result was mirrored in Addison, where 70% voted to remain connected to the system; University Park was more narrowly divided, with 54% voting to stay.

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