DART's Bus Purchase

The thought of DART's board of directors considering the purchase of 525 new buses at this time should tell the public that something is going wrong at DART. The purchase of new buses could be over 150 million dollars and I am not sure that purchase would include spare parts, additional tires, etc.

With last weeks news of the capitol budget being at least 900 million short, and that there could be delays to the LRT (Light Rail) buildout (Irving, Rowlett and the 2030 Long Range Plan), there should be a serious look at all capital expenditures to ensure that there is not an additional cost to the agency that could push the LRT Buildout further out. The bus purchase and light rail buildout is all part of the 20 year financial plan for DART and should be looked at overall, not as individual items of the budget.