I’m going to be going to UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas for school this coming Summer for a year and a half. I have a honda Civic that gets an average 32 miles when doing mostly highway driving.
I am thinking about getting a DART pass (75/month) for the train which takes about 1.5 hours to get from McKinney (where I live) to UTSW.
However, on most mornings when I leave by 6, I can get to UTSW in my car (I work at Children’s Medical Center, sometimes in Dallas) in about 45 minutes flat. It’s just the rush hour traffic coming home I friggin hate, sometimes up to 2 hours.
So what should I do, I love the freedom of my car, but the gas and ware and tear 5 days a week sucks.
I’ll be working 32 hours every weekend, and classes run from 8 till 5pm, so I won’t have much of a life if I spend the afternoon in rush our and get home at almost 7.
Pros of DART pass:
Less gas and wear and tear on my car
No Traffic
Ability to sleep on the way to school, or home from school lol.
Pretty much a consistent travel time, no accidents to worry about.
Cons of DART Pass:
Public transportation is annoying.
Monthly fee that I’m afraid I might just drive somedays and defeat the purpose.
Possibly the same travel time on average.
I have to take two trains and shuttle to get to school (annoying).
What should I do? Buy a pass or not?
#1 by JoKTM on April 7th, 2011
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I would prefer to drive but thats me. I understand the traffic issue but it takes longer to take dart. You will have to wake up earlier if you use dart and if dart runs late your late. What if something happens and you need your car.
#2 by Aaron Kovain on April 7th, 2011
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Personally if you are a student like myself I would choose the Dart Pass. The importance of keeping your vehicle well maintained and running is crucial. Being a student you dont have the funds to get regular maintenance on your car so waking up early for the dart is a well deserved sacrafice for inconvenience you spare yourself later.
#3 by Morgan on April 7th, 2011
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Since I work for DART I’m biased. I understand the trade-off. On the downside the ride home takes longer. On the upside, the commute time on the train is yours for reading, talking, texting, etc. If you don’t want to invest in the monthly pass, then take a look at the weekly pass. You may have some weeks where it’s better to ride than drive and vice versa. The passes are only good for that week, so you can’t spread them out over a month. I’d also check and see if Children’s or UTSW participate in one of our pass programs. They have before and if they still do you could save enough off the pass to make even infrequent riding pay off. Check out http://www.DART.org/fares for the fare information. Thanks for riding.
#4 by lestermount on April 7th, 2011
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Personally I like the freedom to come and go without depending on a transit schedule.
Many people can use transit if it fits their work or school schedule and don’t have to transfer lines and the point to start and finish is not too far from where they live and work.
If you can use transit without too many difficulties it might be your best way to travel since it allows you to study or read instead of driving.
You could try to transit and see if it is going to work, and if not you can start driving.