DART turns over a dozen transit centers into cooling stations
PLANO (CBSNewsTexas.com) – It's getting so hot so early in the summer that for the first time ever, DART is turning more than a dozen of its transit centers into public cooling stations.
It's part of an effort to re-open indoor waiting areas that have been closed since the pandemic.
Matt Swoger says his daily trips on DART buses and trains to and from work involve a lot sweating in the heat and recently have been nothing short of miserable.
"I pretty much get home, change clothes into something a little bit more clean," he said.
Sweat and exhaustion are some of the pitfalls for those who ride public transportation during extreme heat.
"It's getting pretty rough," Swoger said. "If you miss the bus, you kind of wait another 30 or 40 minutes like I missed the last one by 30 seconds. So I'm sitting out in the sun for like 45 minutes."
Starting Friday, Swoger and others who use DART's Arapaho Center and others around Dallas will be able to hang out and wait inside indoor terminals which will be staffed and more importantly, offer cool air and water, along with vending machines.
"We're all looking at the same heat measures," said DART spokesperson Gordon Shattles. "Right now, the extreme heat, the unbearable heat, we're suffering. The last thing you want to do is spend those 10 to 15 minutes outside."
A DART spokesman says the cooling stations will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day.
Eleven DART cooling centers opened Thursday, including one at the Parker Road Station in Plano where a number of passengers were already taking advantage of it.
Christopher Brown says he was struggling with the heat before finding his way inside.
Soon, he was feeling so much better, he serenaded others at the station with his saxophone.
"I can't decide which is worse, cold or hot, hot is pretty bad, though you can make yourself sick...I actually got sick," Brown said.
Seven more DART cooling stations will open Friday.
The cooling stations will remain operational as long as these hot days last.
You can find more cooling stations across North Texas here.