Two years after it ended bus service to the Joppa neighborhood, Dallas Area Rapid Transit is considering the expansion of an alternative program put in place until construction is complete on a pedestrian bridge that will offer a safe way to walk out of the neighborhood.
Ridership for the Joppa Rides program declined by half in its second year. And residents still often walk over the blocked off Union Pacific Railroad tracks beneath Linfield Road — also called the Freedman’s Town Memorial Bridge — to leave the neighborhood. At the same time, ridership for a parallel program, GoLink, steadily increased throughout the last half of 2023 and the first half of this year, peaking at 175 rides per month in May. From June 2023 through May 2024, GoLink ridership in Joppa was 1,262, with an average of about 105 riders per month.
In contrast, in fiscal year 2021, about three riders boarded the bus in Joppa each day. DART did not have figures available for prior years.
The bus route had provided a way for residents to cross South Central Expressway to exit the neighborhood during rush hour on weekdays. Since the line was shut down, residents have had two primary DART services to rely on: GoLink, a curb-to-curb ride service, and the Joppa Rides program that gives residents access to two free Uber rides per day to predetermined locations. The latter has proven difficult for some residents to access.
DART and the city are considering extending and expanding the Joppa Rides program, despite a decline in use from 2022 to 2023 and even though some residents have struggled to adjust their transportation habits without the bus service that operated in the community for about 50 years. DART will vote on the expansion Tuesday, which would be followed by a City Council vote on June 26.
The amendment would extend the Joppa Rides program through March 2027. It would also increase the number of total destinations by three and allow registered residents four free rides per day rather than two.
“You have the traditional riders that are used to their bus route and know every bus number and where they are going and the times,” said Shalondria Galimore, a fifth-generation Joppa resident and president of the Joppa Neighborhood Association. “To implement a totally different program, I think that takes more than a couple of years to get used to.”
From 2022 to 2023, usage of the rides program declined by about 50%, according to DART data obtained by The Dallas Morning News. And from November 2021 to May 2024, there were just 364 total rides through the Joppa Rides program, with more than half coming in the first nine months of the program.
Extending the Joppa Rides program
Since the Joppa Rides program launched in November 2021, it has provided registered residents with two free Uber rides per day to and from one of 15 predetermined destinations listed on the DART website, almost all within four miles of Joppa.
The rides program was meant to provide a transportation option for residents as construction began on a pedestrian bridge on Linfield Road. Funding for the pedestrian bridge was originally approved by the City Council in 2019, and construction is set to start in March 2025 and last through Spring 2027, a Dallas Transportation Department official said. The wait for the bridge’s completion prompted the proposed extension of the Joppa Rides program.
Residents have used the free ride service for easy transportation to bus stations outside of Joppa or to run errands at spots such as the Cash Saver grocery.
When the Joppa Rides program was first introduced, some said they were initially disappointed with its usability. Some older residents said they had trouble adjusting to the largely digital interface to call Ubers, Galimore said. But she added that residents have since come to enjoy what she called a “VIP” service.
Still, she and other residents worry that, after the pedestrian bridge is complete, public transportation options for Joppa residents may become more limited.
Smith did not say whether the Joppa Rides program would continue following construction.
“It’s sustainable for right now,” Galimore said of the rides program. “But as the community grows, I think that we’re going to have to find other alternatives.”
Since 2020, Joppa’s population has increased to more than 1,000 from about 750.
The increase to four rides offered per day could provide some relief for Joppa residents who say two isn’t enough.
Temeckia Derrough, president of the Joppa Freedman’s Town Association, said that, even after the program was launched, she and her neighbors had to carpool to ensure their children got to school on time.
Because those younger than 18 cannot book a ride through the program, she said parents often have to call the Ubers for their children, using one of their allotted rides for the day in the process.
“It’s a good system, but it’s not 100% right,” Derrough said.
Adjusting to new transportation options
More than two years since the bus route through Joppa ended, frustration still lingers among residents who felt they were blindsided by DART’s initial decision to remove the service.
In a statement to The News, Smith said the decision was part of the “DARTzoom” initiative that replaced fixed-route bus services with GoLink in “low ridership neighborhoods.”.
“For Joppa, we replaced a very limited weekday peak-hour-only feeder bus service with GoLink service available over a much wider time span,” he said.
But for residents like Delveeta Thompson, who was born and raised in Joppa and grew accustomed to the timely and consistent bus service schedule, the route closure was a mistake.
During the late 1960s, Thompson’s grandparents fought to bring a bus route to Joppa. Just a few years later, in 1972, after moving back to Joppa, Thompson was able to use that service to get to and from college.
In recent years, to advertise the Joppa Rides program and GoLink, DART has hosted community meetings for residents, distributed flyers and mailers and installed several GoLink bus signs throughout the neighborhood.
Thompson, however, said advertisements for the services and how to use them require improvement.
“The information was just not put out for people to know,” she said. “It’s like, ‘OK, you’re offering this but you’re not putting it out.’”
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DART proposes expanding effort to provide rides for Joppa residents - The Dallas Morning News
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