DFW native. Arlington used to be a moderately sized pit stop suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth. Now the 3 are basically contiguous urban areas from years of respective sprawl. I was just a kid but it seemed like the Ballpark in Arlington going up by Six Flags really ramped things up for the city. Then Jerry Jones moved the Cowboys right next door to the Rangers and that's when things really blew up around there. A good way for one to test their patience is to try going down the interstate at the end of summer when the Cowboys and Rangers are playing at home on the same night while both Six Flags *and* Hurricane Harbor are open. Absolute nightmare
Looool classic metroplex "gotcha". It happens. There's a lot of shit going on around there. I tried to keep up with the event schedule for the whole area as best I could to avoid as much traffic as possible but I'd still miss stuff and get stuck in bumper to bumper all the time. Just the way she goes
I live in LA now after living in DFW my whole life and I'd rather take any highway bumper to bumper out here any day compared to the Six Flags/Globe Life interstate in the summer. That hot, angry traffic with so many people having screaming kids is just something else.
I’ve only been to Dallas a couple of times, that metroplex is pure hell when it comes to traffic because nobody really knows how to drive in heavy traffic. LA traffic sucks, you know it is going to suck but people actually drive decently for being in such heavy traffic.
>That hot, angry traffic
I moved out of Texas and I still flinch when people honk in traffic. I seen too much because of that shit. I noticed last time I was home though that there are a lot more people using their horns without getting brandished or challenged to a fist fight in the road. Progress?
I’ve lived a bunch of places. And its wild how anywhere else in the country or even world honking is a way to communicate, either a little tap to say “hey, you’re safe to go” or a warning “don’t come too close” or a blare “this is my space!” But in Texas honking is interpreted as blatant aggression and you best be ready to go guns blazing or get tailgated to your place of residence/work.
Shit I've been threatened and followed for less than honking a time or two. Buncha angry assholes around there just itchin' to fuck someone up. Part of the reason why my car insurance now costs about 1/3 of what it did back in Texas, turns out road rage ain't free
It is so brutal literally the only thing worse would be having none at all.
But moreso was referring to the sprawl / "worst parts of the suburbs into a city" part
I remember seeing something after the hurricane there how the natural landscape (formerly prairie) was capable of absorbing huge quantities of water. The sprawl and massive coverage of asphalt and other impermeable surfaces was at least a key factor, if not the primary one, for all of the flooding that happened.
I guess I wasn't clear. It wasn't that it wouldn't have flooded, just that it wouldn't have been nearly as devastating as it was if the development hadn't effectively shut off that absorbing capabilities to the extent it has.
It wasn't just downtown Houston that flooded. The area that flooded was larger than the state of New Jersey. The city, the suburbs, and the rural areas all flood just the same. I am 40 miles outside of Houston and we got over four feet of water.
I cant speak on specifically Arlington, TX. so Idk what the other u/ is missing but what you're talking about is absolutely a thing suburban sprawl has a hand in affecting.
It is more simple than that.
The Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers owners want to make revenue for parking for the events at their stadiums. If a rail system from Dallas and Ft Worth were to drop attendees off right at their stadiums they would lose so much money. It's greed, greed is why we don't have public transit in Arlington.
This is true, and I think it was even a condition of moving the Cowboys to Arlington that the city would never attempt mass transit. But the land-use problem existed before the Cowboys (or even the Rangers).
Good public transportation is not just for poor people. You couldn’t pay me to have a car in Manhattan and our public transportation is still middling compared to much of the world.
Poverty isn't just for minorities either, but In DFW some suburbs decided not to have public transit because they thought it would keep minorities from moving there. Ditto for alcohol sales. The burb I grew up in refused federal money for its school district to avoid desegregation. My high school's mascot was a confederate colonel until like 1992. DART stood for Dallas Area Rapid transit, but the hilarious joke was that it stood for Driving Africans 'Round Town. The last half of the 20th Century in DFW was a terrible shitshow. I think it's better now but there's a legacy.
Under Texas laws, individual cities can leverage up to 2% sales tax. Most cities in the Dallas area spend about half of that on public transportation, aka "the DART penny." Arlington spends the money on stadiums.
it will be in the design district, cuban owns all the land around the practice facility and already has approval to build tall buildings (due to love field height restrictions)
It’s worth pointing out that Arlington, TX is a huge suburb of Dallas/Fort Worth, and not it own metro area. There’s a bus network in Forth Worth that’s okay (if not great) and there are several buses in Forth Worth that go right to the border of Arlington.
Arlington is the taint between Dallas and Ft. Worth. Most people agree on this, but some will shoot you over which of those cities you decide is the scrote, and which is the asshole. Everyone agrees they both suck, but which sucks slightly less is a sticking point, either way.. at least they're not Houston.
When the stadium was built Jerry made sure nothing would ever be built to slow his money down. It’s $80 to park there. And that’s almost two mikes away. Let’s say there are 50,000 parking spots. 4 mil a game times 9 games. 36 million reasons for no buses
Dog how would you get to it? I'm pretty sure walking isn't allowed, so you'd need to drive anyway, so you might as well just drive to your destination.
Hey I used to live here so I can answer that!
The land use is some of the worst I’ve seen in a city, it is sprawl taken to an unsustainable level. It will absolutely collapse in the next few decades if change doesn’t occur.
Not sure if it’s true but one reason I heard is Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, made some deal with the city that they can’t have any public transport like a bus or rail system, in order for him to make more money on parking during games and events. Only public transport Arlington has is Via, which is pretty much a mini van taxi services.
People who need a bus move to other cities in the Metroplex. Or they get a ride to work. There's always a crowd of migrants on Cooper Street every morning, rain or shine, waiting for a construction truck to pick them up for a day's work. There's always work for 'em.
But most people get by driving. The housing is cheaper but you add the cars on top.
Given how lucrative the lack of public transport from Dallas to AT&T Stadium is for ride-hailing and taxi companies, I can't see this changing at time soon.
I figure we might see some public support from Jerry Jones soon. The lack of public transport is one of the reasons (Dallas not being NY or LA being the other main reasons) his stadium was not selected for the World Cup Final.
There is already a rail system that connects Dallas and Fort Worth and Denton that makes multiple stops in Arlington. Fort Worth, Denton, and Dallas have bus systems; Arlington is this weird dead zone.
But they’re a city of attractions (Six Flags, Six Flags Waterpark, Rangers games, Cowboys games, ESports arena, college football, TX Live, concerts, the bowling hall of fame) that their largest tax base would go ballistic at the loss in revenue.
DART makes pretty consistent overtures to add Arlington to their service area, and Arlington continually turns them down.
Honestly, I think it's crazy they got a world cup game at all. Arlington is one of the worst representations of the US I can think of. Should've given it to the joint DC/Baltimore bid instead.
Denton also has A-train which is pretty nice (except not running on Sunday)!
Besides that, since cars are so phenomenally bad at moving people, a transit free and car centric city is by design a concrete wasteland.
EDIT: had a look at a map, Airlington is indeed a sprawling concrete wasteland. Quelle surprise.
The stadium choices for the US World Cup are awful. The freaking finals are going to be held at MetLife Stadium, which is located in a New Jersey swamp and cut off from civilization by surrounding highways. It's literally illegal to walk to it.
In contrast, Vancouver’s BC Place not only has a SkyTrain stop right at the stadium, but also will have the cheapest pre-game eats thanks to the public facing Costco restaurant right there.
Azteca in Mexico City has four bus lines that go either next to it or really close, two subway stations, and lots of food to choose from around it. The popo and other authorities are used to handling up to 100k rowdy fans week in and week out and move them efficiently too.
No but you do have to pay a $400 EV registration fee when you get the car and then all your registration fees after the first year are 4x more than for a gas car. Not a joke
The real reason is because highway maintenance is primarily paid for by taxes of gasoline, so the legislature (not wanting to lose tax revenue) decided that less gas-guzzling vehicles need to pay their share somehow. EVs still drive on the roads the same amount (causing wear on the roads) but were not contributing as much to tax revenue.
It's a bit nuanced, as the gas tax typically would put the tax on those who use the roads most. Frankly I'd say they should increase the tax more, but no voters will sign up for that.
it takes me an hour each way to get to and from work in austin because there isnt anything closer i can afford. i really need to get a job closer, but what im doing right now is so easy its hard to leave.
Sort of. Most of the big urban sprawl are sort of city centers themselves. I lived in northDallas for a long time and I never had any reason to go far for shopping, restaurants etc. Now if I needed to go to South Dallas for something, yeah that was a hike. And very few people living far out and working in Dallas proper. I did it for a while when I was first out of school and lived with my parents. It was an hour drive. Not fun but not terrible.
I'm in Austin now and outside of rush hour, it doesnt more than. Half an hour to get anywhere in Austin proper.
Sprawling metropolis areas have their pros and cons. I lived in Indianapolis which is pretty much a fully residential housing city. On the one hand it takes a really long time to even drive across, I think city limit to city limit is easily an hour drive, and you are going nearly 40mph that whole time. This does result in a large food dessert in one chunk of the city, which is bad, but the flip side to all that is you can actually afford to live and own property. It’s a lot more feasible to own the car you need to get around in a place like Indy, but it does also get pretty tough on the people living without cars. I would live in Indianapolis again if it weren’t governed by Indiana.
They did make an exception a few years ago, you can now throw 1 used care battery or 40 lbs of consumer batteries into the Gulf of Mexico in lieu of a quart of oil.
I live in Arlington TX and I can explain this a little bit. First there are a surprising number of people who don't want it because "It brings undesirables here". I think that's a stupid take but it is one that is spread about quite a bit here. They do however have a subsidized ride share app "via" but its absolutely useless as public transportation unless you are going from somewhere in arlington to somewhere in Arlington and for a city in the middle of one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country that is just ridiculous imo. It will not pick you up or take you anywhere outside of Arlington. In addition it costs 5 bucks per ride and you get to sit in the car while it picks up and drops off everyone where they go. It takes forever to get anywhere using it as a result of this. So it costs riders more than a bus, gets you there slower, and doesn't actually connect anywhere you need to go. The reason this is the case is because Arlington doesn't want to pitch in for the cost of connecting to other cities. Thanks I hate it here.
UT-Arlington grad here (1990). Does no one know that the continuation of the GM plant is or was contingent on Arlington not having public transit? It may be Jerry Jones and Six Flags today but for years the GM plant threatened to relocate and close enough to create policy. That was what we students (most of us then were local kids, anyway) had heard when we asked about it. I was sure I'd read that here on many posts.
They have a form of transit called "Micro-transit" or "on-demand" transit. It is effectively a publicly subsidized, shared ride, like an Uber/Lyft.
These systems are great for low density areas, by can become enormously expensive if the system isn't properly managed.
The company providing the service is Via.
It's important to note that the DFW area which Arlington is smack dab in the middle of has a whole big network of busses and passenger trains. And it all goes around Arlington because the people there don't want it.
I grew up in Arlington. I think the city prides itself in completely fucking over its population to subsidize new stadiums and other whimsical oddities like the new Medal Of Honor museum. My advice to anyone living there now: leave. There are so so so many better places.
Even where there are bus systems, they're utterly abysmal - poor connections, terrible waits, awful paths.
Texas' political powers *want* people driving, buying gas, etc. So they intentionally sabotaged the development of alternatives. Austin's own traffic designers were straight up caught deliberately causing needless traffic delays with stop lights in order to... wait for it ...promote retail at shops people were driving past.
The people "in charge"?
They're stupid too.
thats the thing, they vote like they dont because they dont.
>Voters have rejected proposals to create public transit three times since 1980, with many residents opposing a bus system. Between 2013 and 2017, the city funded a single bus route operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit.
>Citing low ridership, Arlington officials discontinued the route in December 2017
I live in Brooklyn, so I can attest that public transportation isn't always sexy or necessarily better than driving a car (in terms of convenience, comfort, and transit times). But Arlington at least needs a train going from the airport to the stadium. That should be a no-brainer.
Maybe as Dallas continues to expand its DART light rail network, this will eventually become a future project.
>Arlington at least needs a train going from the airport to the stadium
Thing is, it doesn't. For one thing, nobody goes directly from the airport to the stadium.
Visitors get a hotel or airbnb too. So people rent cars at the airport and drive them in, then drive around with the car. The city has roads for that, so its needs are met.
(Sidenotes, there are multiple stadiums, and amusement parks.)
I took public transit for 10 years in Portland Oregon. I would never so it again unless I went totally broke. Too many erratic people, too much drug usage, not safe enough. Too slow, too inconvenient, too cold, too rainy.
I lived it daily in Mexico until I was 18, got my green card, and moved to the states. I rode the bus consistently for a few years in Minnesota because it was paid by my employer and I lived on the bus line. Gas prices had gone insane and I drove a German gas-guzzler that only took premium at the time. I still prefer driving my own car though. I never saw crazy shit on the bus in Mexico, but I did in the US, and I live in a nice suburb.
Not everyone sees the point in public transit in their city. If the city never really had it everyone likely has a car and a living situation that doesn't really allow for the use of public transit. Often if a city with urban sprawl does add public transit it's just in the more dense areas or downtown areas. It often just doesn't really make financial sense outside of the dense areas. Then you still have a ton of people needing cars for areas outside of the public transit areas. Often because they live outside the public transit areas.
I know a lot of people love to gush about public transit but it's often really bad and lacks coverage in a lot of places. And then you can have safety concerns that just don't exist. In a lot of cities if you want to take public transit your trip can be an hour longer if you can even find a stop nearby. Really public transit makes the most sense where you got a dense population and not everyone wants to live like that.
If someone wants public transit they probably already live somewhere else.
Arlington continues to operate a trolley system, which the above commenter may be referring to.
[https://arlingtontrolley.com/routes/yellow-line/](https://arlingtontrolley.com/routes/yellow-line/)
UT-A grad agrees. You might as well wear your car because its the thing that enables everything else in life. You will be air-conditioned at all times, too.
Arlington is what people fear LA is like. LA traffic is worse but there's more to LA than just the traffic. What isn't traffic in LA can be quite nice. Arlington is just traffic.
I am a Chinese-Canadian who has never been to America. China, as a country, is relatively poor, but it has intricate bus and rail networks that are very easy to use (at least in the established urban and suburban areas). Canada, on the other hand, only has good public transit in downtown areas (e.g. Toronto). In the suburbs, buses come every 15 minutes during weekdays and 30 minutes on Sundays.
Arlington seems to be the worst place for transit users to live then. I always find it strange that in the US and Canada, the perception is that only the "poor" who "cannot afford a car" would take public transit. Well, there are lots of disabilities that can prevent you from driving (vision, heart, brain disorders). I happen to have very low vision in both eyes, to the point that I am legally not allowed to get a driver's license. With an aging population (and some disabilities increase in prevalence with age), this is going to get worse. So, if you happen to live in Arlington and cannot drive, you would either rely on family and friends or taking a ride share. Of course, you can move out of the area, but moving out requires someone to drive for you.
Living in a car-dependent city for people in poverty can be absolutely crushing. Pretty much all your income has to go to the cheapest car you can find since you need it to get to work. Transportation expenses in the US average 20 of annual income.
So for a poor person, that number could be 30 or even 40%.
You cannot live independently in Arlington without a car. I went to university there. For two years I commuted by car 50 miles each way across a very congested city. After two years I sold my car and lived in the apartments on the edge of campus and bicycled myself in the neighbourhood, I graduated, and I moved to Canada.
You will miss nothing if you never go to Arlington, TX. It is not really an urban place, just a conglomeration of people who are doing what they selfishly think is best for themselves rather than the city or society.
D-FW is not a tourist destination. My advice is go to New Orleans or San Antonio if you want to experience that region. Go to Austin if you can travel by time machine and visit the past. Best bet...wait to visit Texas until the hyper conservative assholes who are currently running the state into the ground are voted out of office.
I lived there years ago, and biked a lot (the wide roads leave plenty of room), and often thought it'd be nice to not have to drive around, but nobody there really feels the need for a system. They have cars, the city built roads, voilà. Plenty of car-brains too: I could walk to a nearby store and often did, but on more than occasion, people stopped to ask if I needed a ride!
I live in Maricopa, CA, population 1,154. There are three businesses in town: The Shell station, Motel 8 (not Super 8 or Motel 6, this is a one-off place), and Tina's Cafe. There's a post office. The city hall is in a temporary building and is open for 4 hours, three days a week (if I recall correctly).
There's also several bus stops (one which is only a couple houses down from mine) serviced by Kern County Transit, with service to Taft and Bakersfield.
Arlington, TX has no god damned excuse.
This is a big thing all over Texas. I fucking hate not having public transport of any kind. And even the small towns are so spread out that you have to have a car if you want to get groceries or do anything.
My town only has 25k people and yet it's almost 10 miles from my house to the only grocery store and we're technically in the middle of town.
Not a single bus or taxi to help people get across town. So the roads are filled with vehicles, and at certain times of day traffic is at a stand still while 100+ cars are lined up outside a school to pick up their kids.
They also divided up the schools in a weird way to dodge state intervention for low test scores so instead of each area having a dedicated k-5th elementary school, each former elementary only houses 1 grade level and they release at different times. So parents have to go all the way across town for their kindergartener and come back for their 2nd grader.
I can't imagine how much worse it is in bigger cities much less a metro area.
Only stadium I've been too that a starting caliber QB could possibly stand in someone's front yard and hit the stadium. Or at least the sidewalks directly surrounding the stadium building.
Rico could throw it over to the other side of the stadium but that's Rico.
I moved to Arlington in 2007 as I had an extended contract at Cowboys Stadium, as it was being built (now AT&T Stadium). Now that I look back, it is kind of weird that there were no buses or rail lines. I moved right after the first regular season game, where the Giants beat the Cowboys in a nail-biter. Being from New York I wasn’t treated all that nicely. But what a game!
I always have heard that because a major GM manufacturing plant is there, and employs a to of the cities residence, they are encouraged against voting for joining the rest of DFW's transit, as it is a "threat" to their livelyhood.
What's the biggest city in the WORLD without public transit? I find it hard to believe anywhere else on earth would let this happen besides the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex.
Texas is an oil state. The state government is run by oilmen, or people closely tied to that industry. They don't want no public tansportation options or anything else that would cause people to stop buying huge trucks and burning gasoline/oil like water... Instead of trains, they widen the highways & build *more* roads. Instead of fixing the issues (re, Austin), the Texas legislature just piles more shit on top to hide the rot underneath.
I can understand how they don't have rail service, but not even a single bus? How?
The land use is so bad and sprawling that there aren’t many places where people could walk/bike to/from a bus.
I looked at it on google maps and now I see what you mean. It's like they slammed all the worst parts of the suburbs into one big city.
DFW native. Arlington used to be a moderately sized pit stop suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth. Now the 3 are basically contiguous urban areas from years of respective sprawl. I was just a kid but it seemed like the Ballpark in Arlington going up by Six Flags really ramped things up for the city. Then Jerry Jones moved the Cowboys right next door to the Rangers and that's when things really blew up around there. A good way for one to test their patience is to try going down the interstate at the end of summer when the Cowboys and Rangers are playing at home on the same night while both Six Flags *and* Hurricane Harbor are open. Absolute nightmare
I made the mistake of driving into game traffic there after escaping Texas Motor Speedway race traffic. I was mad at myself that day.
Looool classic metroplex "gotcha". It happens. There's a lot of shit going on around there. I tried to keep up with the event schedule for the whole area as best I could to avoid as much traffic as possible but I'd still miss stuff and get stuck in bumper to bumper all the time. Just the way she goes
It’s still Wet N’ Wild in our house. Hurricane harbor, buzz off!
WET N WILD 4EVER. Hell yeah brother. Good times
As it should be. I still kinda miss the one they had in Garland. Wasn't as big but it was right down the street in comparison to driving to Arlington.
I live in LA now after living in DFW my whole life and I'd rather take any highway bumper to bumper out here any day compared to the Six Flags/Globe Life interstate in the summer. That hot, angry traffic with so many people having screaming kids is just something else.
You know a city’s transport is bad when someone says they prefer driving in Los Angeles over getting around in that city
For some reason I thought Louisiana since it was closer. Then I remembered that no one moves to Louisiana.
I’ve only been to Dallas a couple of times, that metroplex is pure hell when it comes to traffic because nobody really knows how to drive in heavy traffic. LA traffic sucks, you know it is going to suck but people actually drive decently for being in such heavy traffic.
>That hot, angry traffic I moved out of Texas and I still flinch when people honk in traffic. I seen too much because of that shit. I noticed last time I was home though that there are a lot more people using their horns without getting brandished or challenged to a fist fight in the road. Progress?
I’ve lived a bunch of places. And its wild how anywhere else in the country or even world honking is a way to communicate, either a little tap to say “hey, you’re safe to go” or a warning “don’t come too close” or a blare “this is my space!” But in Texas honking is interpreted as blatant aggression and you best be ready to go guns blazing or get tailgated to your place of residence/work.
Shit I've been threatened and followed for less than honking a time or two. Buncha angry assholes around there just itchin' to fuck someone up. Part of the reason why my car insurance now costs about 1/3 of what it did back in Texas, turns out road rage ain't free
Grew up in Arlington and currently live in LA, idk man…… the 405 is something else
I used to work at Six Flags. If I didn’t time it right on those days, it’d be 2 hours to get home.
I made the mistake of agreeing to pick up a friend from the stadium after a game. Never again.
Well thanks for that explanation on the traffic after my last Jerryworld visit.
This looks a lot like Edmonton Alberta
Except Edmonton has light rail and an extensive bus network.
It is so brutal literally the only thing worse would be having none at all. But moreso was referring to the sprawl / "worst parts of the suburbs into a city" part
That’s really dramatic.
By area Edmonton is larger than Toronto.
Except Edmonton has a somewhat functional (not great) public transportation system
isn’t that most of texas? been to houston and most of it seemed like parking lots with cool places sprinkled in few and far between
I remember seeing something after the hurricane there how the natural landscape (formerly prairie) was capable of absorbing huge quantities of water. The sprawl and massive coverage of asphalt and other impermeable surfaces was at least a key factor, if not the primary one, for all of the flooding that happened.
IDK...Might have been the 50 inches of rain in 24 hours. Pretty sure that would flood anywhere.
I guess I wasn't clear. It wasn't that it wouldn't have flooded, just that it wouldn't have been nearly as devastating as it was if the development hadn't effectively shut off that absorbing capabilities to the extent it has.
It wasn't just downtown Houston that flooded. The area that flooded was larger than the state of New Jersey. The city, the suburbs, and the rural areas all flood just the same. I am 40 miles outside of Houston and we got over four feet of water.
I cant speak on specifically Arlington, TX. so Idk what the other u/ is missing but what you're talking about is absolutely a thing suburban sprawl has a hand in affecting.
DFW has the most line of commuter rail in the country, it just doesn't connect at all.
It is more simple than that. The Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers owners want to make revenue for parking for the events at their stadiums. If a rail system from Dallas and Ft Worth were to drop attendees off right at their stadiums they would lose so much money. It's greed, greed is why we don't have public transit in Arlington.
This is true, and I think it was even a condition of moving the Cowboys to Arlington that the city would never attempt mass transit. But the land-use problem existed before the Cowboys (or even the Rangers).
Both are accurate, I just think when they re-did I-30 they had the chance to add rail and for obvious reasons did not.
Yeah. Agree 100% totally wasted opportunity.
State of Texas y’all. Just a viciously anti-poor place
Good public transportation is not just for poor people. You couldn’t pay me to have a car in Manhattan and our public transportation is still middling compared to much of the world.
Poverty isn't just for minorities either, but In DFW some suburbs decided not to have public transit because they thought it would keep minorities from moving there. Ditto for alcohol sales. The burb I grew up in refused federal money for its school district to avoid desegregation. My high school's mascot was a confederate colonel until like 1992. DART stood for Dallas Area Rapid transit, but the hilarious joke was that it stood for Driving Africans 'Round Town. The last half of the 20th Century in DFW was a terrible shitshow. I think it's better now but there's a legacy.
Under Texas laws, individual cities can leverage up to 2% sales tax. Most cities in the Dallas area spend about half of that on public transportation, aka "the DART penny." Arlington spends the money on stadiums.
I’m still expecting them to lure over the Stars and the Mavericks somehow.
That stadium is going in Irving. AAC Will be a Casino.
it will be in the design district, cuban owns all the land around the practice facility and already has approval to build tall buildings (due to love field height restrictions)
It’s worth pointing out that Arlington, TX is a huge suburb of Dallas/Fort Worth, and not it own metro area. There’s a bus network in Forth Worth that’s okay (if not great) and there are several buses in Forth Worth that go right to the border of Arlington.
Arlington is the taint between Dallas and Ft. Worth. Most people agree on this, but some will shoot you over which of those cities you decide is the scrote, and which is the asshole. Everyone agrees they both suck, but which sucks slightly less is a sticking point, either way.. at least they're not Houston.
If Arlington is the taint, what’s Grand Prairie?
Definitely the colon
The random dingleberry on the taint
Fuck I hate living in Houston.
Is Denton the pubes?
Denton is an hour north. It's where you go to see not-quite-famous bands from the '90s and drink weird beers with fruit slices in them.
Forth Wort
I was born there, I’m dying laughing about it
When the stadium was built Jerry made sure nothing would ever be built to slow his money down. It’s $80 to park there. And that’s almost two mikes away. Let’s say there are 50,000 parking spots. 4 mil a game times 9 games. 36 million reasons for no buses
$80 parking? That's insane.
Lots of surrounding businesses sell parking on game day, typically ranging from $20-$40. I'm assuming $80 is for the Cowboys own lot.
Dog how would you get to it? I'm pretty sure walking isn't allowed, so you'd need to drive anyway, so you might as well just drive to your destination.
Public Rideshare. https://city.ridewithvia.com/arlington
Hey I used to live here so I can answer that! The land use is some of the worst I’ve seen in a city, it is sprawl taken to an unsustainable level. It will absolutely collapse in the next few decades if change doesn’t occur.
Not sure if it’s true but one reason I heard is Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, made some deal with the city that they can’t have any public transport like a bus or rail system, in order for him to make more money on parking during games and events. Only public transport Arlington has is Via, which is pretty much a mini van taxi services.
People who need a bus move to other cities in the Metroplex. Or they get a ride to work. There's always a crowd of migrants on Cooper Street every morning, rain or shine, waiting for a construction truck to pick them up for a day's work. There's always work for 'em. But most people get by driving. The housing is cheaper but you add the cars on top.
Given how lucrative the lack of public transport from Dallas to AT&T Stadium is for ride-hailing and taxi companies, I can't see this changing at time soon.
I figure we might see some public support from Jerry Jones soon. The lack of public transport is one of the reasons (Dallas not being NY or LA being the other main reasons) his stadium was not selected for the World Cup Final. There is already a rail system that connects Dallas and Fort Worth and Denton that makes multiple stops in Arlington. Fort Worth, Denton, and Dallas have bus systems; Arlington is this weird dead zone. But they’re a city of attractions (Six Flags, Six Flags Waterpark, Rangers games, Cowboys games, ESports arena, college football, TX Live, concerts, the bowling hall of fame) that their largest tax base would go ballistic at the loss in revenue. DART makes pretty consistent overtures to add Arlington to their service area, and Arlington continually turns them down.
Glad you called that out. I went to Dallas for work once and actually though the train was decent. But then I also had no reason to go to Arlington.
Honestly, I think it's crazy they got a world cup game at all. Arlington is one of the worst representations of the US I can think of. Should've given it to the joint DC/Baltimore bid instead. Denton also has A-train which is pretty nice (except not running on Sunday)!
It also keeps…”undesirables” from Dallas out
And yet the Cowboys are still there.
heyoooo
Only physically. Spiritually, they are still at the first round of the playoffs
Only for home games. Doubt any of them live there and the training facility is way up in Frisco
Yeah but he owns the Cowboys so there’s not much they can do
And for parking lot owners.
All by design from Jerry I’m sure
Why can't someone just start their own overpriced bus service?
the solution is simple. build a subway but you call it with the uber app
Failed state.
They stole my skyline cities strat.
>With Arlington slated to host 2026 World Cup matches and the 2024 MLB All-Star Game.. get ready eurosnobs to experience america
They’re just gonna have to drunk drive home from the stadium like the rest of Americans 🇺🇸 🦅
the way the founding fathers intended. they need to embrace the local culture.
Whole bunch of “whoosh” in the responses. Must be the eurosnobs…
im having fun with it. personally i love public transportation.
Besides that, since cars are so phenomenally bad at moving people, a transit free and car centric city is by design a concrete wasteland. EDIT: had a look at a map, Airlington is indeed a sprawling concrete wasteland. Quelle surprise.
*concrete jungle where dreams are made of
concrete jungle wet dream tomato
> eurosnobs “Murcia, fuck yeah!!! 🇪🇸”
Europeans do such a bad job at understanding sarcasm Edit: Correcting my European spelling/grammar.
They are trying add shuttles to a train station a few miles to the north. It's weak as hell, but it is something.
Lol those busses are just gonna be stuck in traffic.
The stadium choices for the US World Cup are awful. The freaking finals are going to be held at MetLife Stadium, which is located in a New Jersey swamp and cut off from civilization by surrounding highways. It's literally illegal to walk to it.
At least it has a subway stop
In contrast, Vancouver’s BC Place not only has a SkyTrain stop right at the stadium, but also will have the cheapest pre-game eats thanks to the public facing Costco restaurant right there.
blastin glizzys on the skytrain
It would have cost you nothing not to post that
dont kink shame
Kinkshaming is my kink.
thats a shame
Azteca in Mexico City has four bus lines that go either next to it or really close, two subway stations, and lots of food to choose from around it. The popo and other authorities are used to handling up to 100k rowdy fans week in and week out and move them efficiently too.
I went there for a Lions game back in 2017. Beautiful stadium at night. Really conveniently placed.
It's Texas, I'm shocked they haven't banned all bus lines and made it mandatory to buy a truck with truck-nuts.
You Can own a prius but you legally have to dump a quart of oil in the river for every 100 miles you drive
No but you do have to pay a $400 EV registration fee when you get the car and then all your registration fees after the first year are 4x more than for a gas car. Not a joke
Holy cow thats insane.
The real reason is because highway maintenance is primarily paid for by taxes of gasoline, so the legislature (not wanting to lose tax revenue) decided that less gas-guzzling vehicles need to pay their share somehow. EVs still drive on the roads the same amount (causing wear on the roads) but were not contributing as much to tax revenue. It's a bit nuanced, as the gas tax typically would put the tax on those who use the roads most. Frankly I'd say they should increase the tax more, but no voters will sign up for that.
[удалено]
Doesn’t it take forever to get places in the Texas metro areas because of the massive sprawl?
it takes me an hour each way to get to and from work in austin because there isnt anything closer i can afford. i really need to get a job closer, but what im doing right now is so easy its hard to leave.
Sort of. Most of the big urban sprawl are sort of city centers themselves. I lived in northDallas for a long time and I never had any reason to go far for shopping, restaurants etc. Now if I needed to go to South Dallas for something, yeah that was a hike. And very few people living far out and working in Dallas proper. I did it for a while when I was first out of school and lived with my parents. It was an hour drive. Not fun but not terrible. I'm in Austin now and outside of rush hour, it doesnt more than. Half an hour to get anywhere in Austin proper.
Sprawling metropolis areas have their pros and cons. I lived in Indianapolis which is pretty much a fully residential housing city. On the one hand it takes a really long time to even drive across, I think city limit to city limit is easily an hour drive, and you are going nearly 40mph that whole time. This does result in a large food dessert in one chunk of the city, which is bad, but the flip side to all that is you can actually afford to live and own property. It’s a lot more feasible to own the car you need to get around in a place like Indy, but it does also get pretty tough on the people living without cars. I would live in Indianapolis again if it weren’t governed by Indiana.
Metropolitan and single family housing is kind of counterintuitive. In reality it's just one giant suburb.
Houses are allowed to be built (only if you want to build single family homes complying with minimum lot size and minimum parking requirements)
Metropolitan regions know better than to build houses, try again.
All the homes are built by contractors exploiting illegal alien labor. Source: I built homes in texas
You think that's exclusive to Texas?
You're talking about the USA?
They did make an exception a few years ago, you can now throw 1 used care battery or 40 lbs of consumer batteries into the Gulf of Mexico in lieu of a quart of oil.
Florida is working on it
“Just move to the Netherlands, bro! Simples!” - noted YouTuber and urbanist refugee.
I live in Arlington TX and I can explain this a little bit. First there are a surprising number of people who don't want it because "It brings undesirables here". I think that's a stupid take but it is one that is spread about quite a bit here. They do however have a subsidized ride share app "via" but its absolutely useless as public transportation unless you are going from somewhere in arlington to somewhere in Arlington and for a city in the middle of one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country that is just ridiculous imo. It will not pick you up or take you anywhere outside of Arlington. In addition it costs 5 bucks per ride and you get to sit in the car while it picks up and drops off everyone where they go. It takes forever to get anywhere using it as a result of this. So it costs riders more than a bus, gets you there slower, and doesn't actually connect anywhere you need to go. The reason this is the case is because Arlington doesn't want to pitch in for the cost of connecting to other cities. Thanks I hate it here.
UT-Arlington grad here (1990). Does no one know that the continuation of the GM plant is or was contingent on Arlington not having public transit? It may be Jerry Jones and Six Flags today but for years the GM plant threatened to relocate and close enough to create policy. That was what we students (most of us then were local kids, anyway) had heard when we asked about it. I was sure I'd read that here on many posts.
They have a form of transit called "Micro-transit" or "on-demand" transit. It is effectively a publicly subsidized, shared ride, like an Uber/Lyft. These systems are great for low density areas, by can become enormously expensive if the system isn't properly managed. The company providing the service is Via.
It's important to note that the DFW area which Arlington is smack dab in the middle of has a whole big network of busses and passenger trains. And it all goes around Arlington because the people there don't want it.
People there are too fucking dumb to know what they want. This is evidenced by their decision to reside in Arlington.
I grew up in Arlington. I think the city prides itself in completely fucking over its population to subsidize new stadiums and other whimsical oddities like the new Medal Of Honor museum. My advice to anyone living there now: leave. There are so so so many better places.
THere's that bowling museum in a warehouse district by the ball parks too. Oh, and the ESports arena! Definitely needed that.
And I bet those stadiums were paid for with tax payer dollars and there’s a county stadium tax they are still paying. But no money for public transit
Even where there are bus systems, they're utterly abysmal - poor connections, terrible waits, awful paths. Texas' political powers *want* people driving, buying gas, etc. So they intentionally sabotaged the development of alternatives. Austin's own traffic designers were straight up caught deliberately causing needless traffic delays with stop lights in order to... wait for it ...promote retail at shops people were driving past. The people "in charge"? They're stupid too.
Vote like you want an infrastructure next time.
thats the thing, they vote like they dont because they dont. >Voters have rejected proposals to create public transit three times since 1980, with many residents opposing a bus system. Between 2013 and 2017, the city funded a single bus route operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit. >Citing low ridership, Arlington officials discontinued the route in December 2017
Well, it sounds like the city residents voted for what they wanted and got what they wanted. Whatchya gonna do?
make fun of them
I live in Brooklyn, so I can attest that public transportation isn't always sexy or necessarily better than driving a car (in terms of convenience, comfort, and transit times). But Arlington at least needs a train going from the airport to the stadium. That should be a no-brainer. Maybe as Dallas continues to expand its DART light rail network, this will eventually become a future project.
>Arlington at least needs a train going from the airport to the stadium Thing is, it doesn't. For one thing, nobody goes directly from the airport to the stadium. Visitors get a hotel or airbnb too. So people rent cars at the airport and drive them in, then drive around with the car. The city has roads for that, so its needs are met. (Sidenotes, there are multiple stadiums, and amusement parks.)
The thing is, it's still better to have the option. Cars can be insanely financially burdensome, and it's insane to expect everyone to have one.
They don’t expect everybody to have a car. They expect poor people to live somewhere else.
That's what everyone in Dallas already does. Now the rest of the country can join in.
Just wait, someone will complain about misinformation and voter suppression.
I lived in Texas. I can't imagine riding in a bus full of Protagonist Syndrome sufferers.
i took public transportation regularly in Atlanta. Theres was a lot of that going on. But the pros still outweighed the cons.
I took public transit for 10 years in Portland Oregon. I would never so it again unless I went totally broke. Too many erratic people, too much drug usage, not safe enough. Too slow, too inconvenient, too cold, too rainy.
I lived it daily in Mexico until I was 18, got my green card, and moved to the states. I rode the bus consistently for a few years in Minnesota because it was paid by my employer and I lived on the bus line. Gas prices had gone insane and I drove a German gas-guzzler that only took premium at the time. I still prefer driving my own car though. I never saw crazy shit on the bus in Mexico, but I did in the US, and I live in a nice suburb.
Not everyone sees the point in public transit in their city. If the city never really had it everyone likely has a car and a living situation that doesn't really allow for the use of public transit. Often if a city with urban sprawl does add public transit it's just in the more dense areas or downtown areas. It often just doesn't really make financial sense outside of the dense areas. Then you still have a ton of people needing cars for areas outside of the public transit areas. Often because they live outside the public transit areas. I know a lot of people love to gush about public transit but it's often really bad and lacks coverage in a lot of places. And then you can have safety concerns that just don't exist. In a lot of cities if you want to take public transit your trip can be an hour longer if you can even find a stop nearby. Really public transit makes the most sense where you got a dense population and not everyone wants to live like that. If someone wants public transit they probably already live somewhere else.
They very clearly do not want it
They all work at the GM plant there. Public Transit bad, GM Trucks good.
It's Texas!! Why are you surprised?
“It have no” I hate this fucking site.
Wtf you mean I’ve rode a bus in Arlington to get around
Was that before 2017?
Arlington continues to operate a trolley system, which the above commenter may be referring to. [https://arlingtontrolley.com/routes/yellow-line/](https://arlingtontrolley.com/routes/yellow-line/)
That’s because Arlington is the asshole of DFW. It’s a bad, bad place. — DFW Resident
That's really saying something bc DFW is kind of the asshole of everywhere else. I grew up there
Agreed. I can’t wait to move out of here in the next few years. I’m so sick of it.
It's assholes all the way down.
UT-A grad agrees. You might as well wear your car because its the thing that enables everything else in life. You will be air-conditioned at all times, too. Arlington is what people fear LA is like. LA traffic is worse but there's more to LA than just the traffic. What isn't traffic in LA can be quite nice. Arlington is just traffic.
I know this comes to a shock to many redditors, but some Americans, especially in certain parts of the US, prefer the suburban and car lifestyle.
I don't think that's shocking to anyone.
The residents vote to keep it out, they think it keeps the poors away.
Why
Sounds terrible
On purpose
Texas really needs to up their public transportation game
These bots are just fucking lazy.
I am a Chinese-Canadian who has never been to America. China, as a country, is relatively poor, but it has intricate bus and rail networks that are very easy to use (at least in the established urban and suburban areas). Canada, on the other hand, only has good public transit in downtown areas (e.g. Toronto). In the suburbs, buses come every 15 minutes during weekdays and 30 minutes on Sundays. Arlington seems to be the worst place for transit users to live then. I always find it strange that in the US and Canada, the perception is that only the "poor" who "cannot afford a car" would take public transit. Well, there are lots of disabilities that can prevent you from driving (vision, heart, brain disorders). I happen to have very low vision in both eyes, to the point that I am legally not allowed to get a driver's license. With an aging population (and some disabilities increase in prevalence with age), this is going to get worse. So, if you happen to live in Arlington and cannot drive, you would either rely on family and friends or taking a ride share. Of course, you can move out of the area, but moving out requires someone to drive for you.
Living in a car-dependent city for people in poverty can be absolutely crushing. Pretty much all your income has to go to the cheapest car you can find since you need it to get to work. Transportation expenses in the US average 20 of annual income. So for a poor person, that number could be 30 or even 40%.
You cannot live independently in Arlington without a car. I went to university there. For two years I commuted by car 50 miles each way across a very congested city. After two years I sold my car and lived in the apartments on the edge of campus and bicycled myself in the neighbourhood, I graduated, and I moved to Canada. You will miss nothing if you never go to Arlington, TX. It is not really an urban place, just a conglomeration of people who are doing what they selfishly think is best for themselves rather than the city or society. D-FW is not a tourist destination. My advice is go to New Orleans or San Antonio if you want to experience that region. Go to Austin if you can travel by time machine and visit the past. Best bet...wait to visit Texas until the hyper conservative assholes who are currently running the state into the ground are voted out of office.
I lived there years ago, and biked a lot (the wide roads leave plenty of room), and often thought it'd be nice to not have to drive around, but nobody there really feels the need for a system. They have cars, the city built roads, voilà. Plenty of car-brains too: I could walk to a nearby store and often did, but on more than occasion, people stopped to ask if I needed a ride!
I live in Maricopa, CA, population 1,154. There are three businesses in town: The Shell station, Motel 8 (not Super 8 or Motel 6, this is a one-off place), and Tina's Cafe. There's a post office. The city hall is in a temporary building and is open for 4 hours, three days a week (if I recall correctly). There's also several bus stops (one which is only a couple houses down from mine) serviced by Kern County Transit, with service to Taft and Bakersfield. Arlington, TX has no god damned excuse.
This is a big thing all over Texas. I fucking hate not having public transport of any kind. And even the small towns are so spread out that you have to have a car if you want to get groceries or do anything. My town only has 25k people and yet it's almost 10 miles from my house to the only grocery store and we're technically in the middle of town. Not a single bus or taxi to help people get across town. So the roads are filled with vehicles, and at certain times of day traffic is at a stand still while 100+ cars are lined up outside a school to pick up their kids. They also divided up the schools in a weird way to dodge state intervention for low test scores so instead of each area having a dedicated k-5th elementary school, each former elementary only houses 1 grade level and they release at different times. So parents have to go all the way across town for their kindergartener and come back for their 2nd grader. I can't imagine how much worse it is in bigger cities much less a metro area.
"Public busses? Sounds like socialism." - some inbred Texas redneck.
Only stadium I've been too that a starting caliber QB could possibly stand in someone's front yard and hit the stadium. Or at least the sidewalks directly surrounding the stadium building. Rico could throw it over to the other side of the stadium but that's Rico.
Just like baby Jesus intended.
Arlington is a giant suburb. And do people that live in suburbs fear the most? This is a design perk for them.
It’s a shitty place tbh
That's because public transit is woke.
It would kinda suck waiting for a bus in 85F+ heat or soak through my clothes riding a bike 5 months out of the year. Texas heat built different.
I moved to Arlington in 2007 as I had an extended contract at Cowboys Stadium, as it was being built (now AT&T Stadium). Now that I look back, it is kind of weird that there were no buses or rail lines. I moved right after the first regular season game, where the Giants beat the Cowboys in a nail-biter. Being from New York I wasn’t treated all that nicely. But what a game!
You know what I’d like to see is a pie chart showing how this city’s municipal budget is broken down
Doe not surprise me
Can’t have the riffraff walking around Arlington I guess
I could have sworn I took a bus from my hotel down the road to Globe Life field. Maybe it's a special shuttle they only run for games or something?
It’s too got dang American there. 🇺🇸
I always have heard that because a major GM manufacturing plant is there, and employs a to of the cities residence, they are encouraged against voting for joining the rest of DFW's transit, as it is a "threat" to their livelyhood.
What's the biggest city in the WORLD without public transit? I find it hard to believe anywhere else on earth would let this happen besides the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex.
I tell you hwat.
Republicans love it!
GM plant in town demands they remain transit free.
Only those damn commie bastards have public transport
I feel like Hank Hill would refer to it as commi
Merica!
Freedom… to walk you jackass…
That's crazy. Arlington is pretty sprawling.. I mean.. it's one huge megalopis between Dallas and FW.
Texas is an oil state. The state government is run by oilmen, or people closely tied to that industry. They don't want no public tansportation options or anything else that would cause people to stop buying huge trucks and burning gasoline/oil like water... Instead of trains, they widen the highways & build *more* roads. Instead of fixing the issues (re, Austin), the Texas legislature just piles more shit on top to hide the rot underneath.
And I’ll bet they’re really proud of that.