The DART Board of Directors approved our new 10-year Strategic Plan goals in mid-June, and we are excited to share more about our roadmap for the future.

Entitled “Point B: A New Vision for Mobility for North Texas,” the plan outlines how the agency will invest its resources for the next decade, with a near-term, five-year focus.

The title is derived from a simple premise: We want to move DART from Point A, where we are today, to Point B, where we want to be in the future. Point B’s overarching goal is to move DART from being a service that people sometimes use to a valued, strategic regional economic and mobility asset.

Focus shifts from expansion to improvement

In defining Point A, we thought a lot about what we are doing now. Unlike in the first 40 years of DART’s history, we are no longer focused on expanding the rail network – that foundation-building work is done for the foreseeable future once the Silver Line opens. Now DART is focused on improving the rider experience; modernizing systems, vehicles, and facilities; expanding service coverage and frequency; and making transit more valuable to the communities we serve.

Specifically, the agency is improving the security, cleanliness, and reliability of our system. These are areas our customers told us need the most work, in part due to challenges that came out of the pandemic. In the future, I believe our agency will be so adept at driving these activities that they will become a part of our operational DNA.

A new vision and mission anchor plan

Our future Point B is anchored by and reflected in a new guiding vision statement for the agency:

Your first-in-mind mobility partner.

This conveys our hope that riders, cities, businesses, and stakeholder organizations will think of DART first when they are planning how to move people throughout the region. The phrase “mobility partner” reflects our aspirational goal to be the preferred provider of quality transportation options.

In practice, achieving that vision means that residents, city leaders, and employers are proud to have the DART System in North Texas. Our employees are proud to work for DART. And people choose to live, work, and play in areas served by DART, thinking of DART first when they need to go someplace.

The agency also updated DART’s mission statement to better define what we do every day – and what we strive to do:

We create best-in-class mobility experiences that help people and communities connect and flourish.

Our goal is that more people will use and rely on DART because our services are so easily accessible, useful, attractive, and convenient that travelers prefer to take DART to get to their destinations. In the same vision, DART’s cities and partners will see DART as so essential that they actively look for ways to leverage transit as a catalyst for the economic, mobility, and quality of life goals that they are trying to achieve.

The mission statement further gives us the criteria by which we evaluate the effectiveness of our activities. As we assess every service, project, or initiative, we will ask:

• Does this help create a best-in-class mobility experience?
• Does this help people and communities connect and flourish?

If we cannot say “yes” to both of those questions, then we must reevaluate our plans for allocating our resources. Together, we hope that these two powerful statements will bring direction to both our day-to-day efforts and our long-term endeavors.

Outreach will cultivate our strategic relationships

Over the next year, we will use a variety of communications tactics to raise awareness of the Point B Strategic Plan with officials and staff at DART Service Area cities, key stakeholders, employees, customers, and community partners. This newsletter is one of those channels, and I plan to share more about each of the six strategic goals and the objectives and initiatives that will help us accomplish them.

As more elements from Point B are ready to share, we will  update the DART.org website. To start, you can read the “Letter from the President & CEO” and the Executive Summary online now at DART.org/StrategicPlan.

The DART Board of Directors approved our new 10-year Strategic Plan goals in mid-June, and we are excited to share more about our roadmap for the future.

Entitled “Point B: A New Vision for Mobility for North Texas,” the plan outlines how the agency will invest its resources for the next decade, with a near-term, five-year focus.

The title is derived from a simple premise: We want to move DART from Point A, where we are today, to Point B, where we want to be in the future. Point B’s overarching goal is to move DART from being a service that people sometimes use to a valued, strategic regional economic and mobility asset.

Focus shifts from expansion to improvement

In defining Point A, we thought a lot about what we are doing now. Unlike in the first 40 years of DART’s history, we are no longer focused on expanding the rail network – that foundation-building work is done for the foreseeable future once the Silver Line opens. Now DART is focused on improving the rider experience; modernizing systems, vehicles, and facilities; expanding service coverage and frequency; and making transit more valuable to the communities we serve.

Specifically, the agency is improving the security, cleanliness, and reliability of our system. These are areas our customers told us need the most work, in part due to challenges that came out of the pandemic. In the future, I believe our agency will be so adept at driving these activities that they will become a part of our operational DNA.

A new vision and mission anchor plan

Our future Point B is anchored by and reflected in a new guiding vision statement for the agency:

Your first-in-mind mobility partner.

This conveys our hope that riders, cities, businesses, and stakeholder organizations will think of DART first when they are planning how to move people throughout the region. The phrase “mobility partner” reflects our aspirational goal to be the preferred provider of quality transportation options.

In practice, achieving that vision means that residents, city leaders, and employers are proud to have the DART System in North Texas. Our employees are proud to work for DART. And people choose to live, work, and play in areas served by DART, thinking of DART first when they need to go someplace.

The agency also updated DART’s mission statement to better define what we do every day – and what we strive to do:

We create best-in-class mobility experiences that help people and communities connect and flourish.

Our goal is that more people will use and rely on DART because our services are so easily accessible, useful, attractive, and convenient that travelers prefer to take DART to get to their destinations. In the same vision, DART’s cities and partners will see DART as so essential that they actively look for ways to leverage transit as a catalyst for the economic, mobility, and quality of life goals that they are trying to achieve.

The mission statement further gives us the criteria by which we evaluate the effectiveness of our activities. As we assess every service, project, or initiative, we will ask:

• Does this help create a best-in-class mobility experience?
• Does this help people and communities connect and flourish?

If we cannot say “yes” to both of those questions, then we must reevaluate our plans for allocating our resources. Together, we hope that these two powerful statements will bring direction to both our day-to-day efforts and our long-term endeavors.

Outreach will cultivate our strategic relationships

Over the next year, we will use a variety of communications tactics to raise awareness of the Point B Strategic Plan with officials and staff at DART Service Area cities, key stakeholders, employees, customers, and community partners. This newsletter is one of those channels, and I plan to share more about each of the six strategic goals and the objectives and initiatives that will help us accomplish them.

As more elements from Point B are ready to share, we will  update the DART.org website. To start, you can read the “Letter from the President & CEO” and the Executive Summary online now at DART.org/StrategicPlan.

The DART Board of Directors approved our new 10-year Strategic Plan goals in mid-June, and we are excited to share more about our roadmap for the future.

Entitled “Point B: A New Vision for Mobility for North Texas,” the plan outlines how the agency will invest its resources for the next decade, with a near-term, five-year focus.

The title is derived from a simple premise: We want to move DART from Point A, where we are today, to Point B, where we want to be in the future. Point B’s overarching goal is to move DART from being a service that people sometimes use to a valued, strategic regional economic and mobility asset.

Focus shifts from expansion to improvement

In defining Point A, we thought a lot about what we are doing now. Unlike in the first 40 years of DART’s history, we are no longer focused on expanding the rail network – that foundation-building work is done for the foreseeable future once the Silver Line opens. Now DART is focused on improving the rider experience; modernizing systems, vehicles, and facilities; expanding service coverage and frequency; and making transit more valuable to the communities we serve.

Specifically, the agency is improving the security, cleanliness, and reliability of our system. These are areas our customers told us need the most work, in part due to challenges that came out of the pandemic. In the future, I believe our agency will be so adept at driving these activities that they will become a part of our operational DNA.

A new vision and mission anchor plan

Our future Point B is anchored by and reflected in a new guiding vision statement for the agency:

Your first-in-mind mobility partner.

This conveys our hope that riders, cities, businesses, and stakeholder organizations will think of DART first when they are planning how to move people throughout the region. The phrase “mobility partner” reflects our aspirational goal to be the preferred provider of quality transportation options.

In practice, achieving that vision means that residents, city leaders, and employers are proud to have the DART System in North Texas. Our employees are proud to work for DART. And people choose to live, work, and play in areas served by DART, thinking of DART first when they need to go someplace.

The agency also updated DART’s mission statement to better define what we do every day – and what we strive to do:

We create best-in-class mobility experiences that help people and communities connect and flourish.

Our goal is that more people will use and rely on DART because our services are so easily accessible, useful, attractive, and convenient that travelers prefer to take DART to get to their destinations. In the same vision, DART’s cities and partners will see DART as so essential that they actively look for ways to leverage transit as a catalyst for the economic, mobility, and quality of life goals that they are trying to achieve.

The mission statement further gives us the criteria by which we evaluate the effectiveness of our activities. As we assess every service, project, or initiative, we will ask:

• Does this help create a best-in-class mobility experience?
• Does this help people and communities connect and flourish?

If we cannot say “yes” to both of those questions, then we must reevaluate our plans for allocating our resources. Together, we hope that these two powerful statements will bring direction to both our day-to-day efforts and our long-term endeavors.

Outreach will cultivate our strategic relationships

Over the next year, we will use a variety of communications tactics to raise awareness of the Point B Strategic Plan with officials and staff at DART Service Area cities, key stakeholders, employees, customers, and community partners. This newsletter is one of those channels, and I plan to share more about each of the six strategic goals and the objectives and initiatives that will help us accomplish them.

As more elements from Point B are ready to share, we will  update the DART.org website. To start, you can read the “Letter from the President & CEO” and the Executive Summary online now at DART.org/StrategicPlan.