Technology Engages Customers, Improves Travel Experience DART innovates for next-level service Solar-powered bus shelters, touchscreen kiosk trip-planning and mobile ride-sharing integration are some of the technological advances that will help riders reach their destinations safely and efficiently. GoPass app to expand car-sharing integration Plan a trip. Purchase a transit pass. Summon a driver for the last leg of a journey – all without leaving the GoPass app. That soon will be possible, thanks to a $1.2 million grant to DART from the Federal Transit Administration. DART will use this grant to more fully integrate ride-sharing services into its GoPass ticketing app. The free app, which was introduced in September 2013, has been downloaded more than 500,000 times. “This grant will allow us to provide more seamless integration with companies like Uber, Lyft and Zipcar, making our app that much more powerful,” DART Chief Financial Officer David Leininger said. The grant is from FTA’s Mobility on Demand Sandbox Demonstration Program. This program is part of a larger research effort to support transit agencies and communities as they integrate new mobility tools like smartphone apps, bike and car sharing, and demand-responsive bus and van services. DART is developing the next generation of its GoPass mobile ticketing app, which not only will connect customers to ride-sharing services, but allow them to pay for those trips, too. Electric buses make for cleaner air Soon, North Texans will see a different kind of bus on the streets of Dallas. DART is awaiting delivery of seven all-electric Proterra EV buses. The agency received a $7.6 million grant from FTA’s Low or No Emission Vehicle Deployment Program to purchase the vehicles and the infrastructure to charge and maintain them. The electric buses are slated to be used on D-Link, a route that connects arts, dining, cultural and entertainment destinations in Downtown Dallas and surrounding districts. The Proterra EV buses, which should arrive in 2017, will join the electric light rail trains as zero-emission vehicles in DART’s transit fleet. The electric battery technology is similar to that used on the Dallas Streetcar. A small fleet of zero-emission, all-electric Proterra EV buses will be used on the D-Link downtown circulator route when they arrive later in 2017. 12
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