Public Transit A Problem For Future Events In Arlington
ARLINGTON (CBSDFW.COM) - Super Bowl XLV, the NCAA Championship and next year's American Country Music Awards are making AT&T Stadium's star shine bright. Unfortunately, there's one problem that's dimming the image both political playmakers and moneymakers are trying to overcome – public transit.
Arlington held the title of the largest city in the country without public transit until recently.
"I don't think that's something we want to be known for," said UTA student body president Varun Mallipaddi, who is a fan of the new Metro Arlington Express… or "The Max."
"It's a step in the right direction," according to Mallipaddi.a
Launched in August, the two-year experiment is meant to gauge public interest in a transit link to Dallas and Fort Worth.
"The more events we have, the larger Arlington gets, the more the Arlington-Fort Worth-Dallas region becomes one, where people want to go back and forth between the cities… we do hear more about it being a need or an interest of people who are visiting," said Alicia Winkelblech with Arlington city planning.
The bus route at the moment offers just three stops. It connects riders to the Trinity Railway Express, which can get them to DART in Dallas or Fort Worth's Transportation Authority, or The T.
On a normal weekday The Maxx logs 280 rides.
But a similar shuttle this shuttled 4,000 Final Four fans to AT&T Stadium.
"It got a lot of compliments and a lot of people used it," said Micheal Morris, North Central Texas Council of Governments.
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Latest News:
Top Trending:
- PHOTOS: Your Pet Pictures
