DART Sets Its Sights on Automated Buses

The Dallas-area transit agency is partnering with other agencies to study driverless buses and their role in the future of transit systems.

1 minute read

June 10, 2019, 2:00 PM PDT

By Camille Fink


DART Bus

BeyondDC / Flickr

Dallas Area Rapid Transit is part of the Automated Bus Consortium, a group of transit agencies exploring the future of automated driverless buses, reports Melissa Repko.

"For the first 12 months, the consortium plans to study the feasibility of autonomous buses. It plans to buy an initial fleet of 75 to 100 full-sized, automated buses, which it will test in 2021 or 2022 on routes chosen by the transportation agencies," writes Repko.

DART, along with transit agencies across the country, is contending with ridership decreases. With much of the agency's costs related to labor, DART officials see autonomous buses as a way to lower operations costs. The consortium approach will allow the agencies to work together to test the vehicles and lower purchase costs.

Monday, June 3, 2019 in Dallas News

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