Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) provides an extensive transportation network comprising DART Light Rail, Trinity Railway Express commuter rail, bus routes, GoLink on-demand services, and paratransit service, moving more than 220,000 passengers per day across a 700-square-mile service area center on Dallas Fort Worth, Texas.

DART Light Rail

In 2017 Xentrans was contracted by DART to conduct an extensive feasibility study for delivery of passenger Wi-Fi on DART’s fleet of commuter rail, light rail and bus vehicles. Xentrans conducted a three-phase work plan over the period of four months, involving stakeholder interviews, vehicle inspections, cellular surveys along all major train and bus routes, wireless network capacity modeling, and scoping of a commercial business plan. The second phase also included outreach to 23 other U.S. transit agencies to understand the reasons they had invested in passenger Wi-Fi solutions; how they were funded; the use case for each mode (e.g., bus, light rail and commuter rail); the customer satisfaction levels of each initiative.

The final report provided the result of the discovery work, accompanied by a detailed set of technical and commercial considerations, along with a rough-order-of-magnitude (ROM) financial model to provide a guideline budget for Wi-Fi implementation.

The purpose of the engagement was to inform senior management of the potential opportunity to enhance the passenger experience with Wi-Fi on board vehicles; define a technical approach based on best practices and DART’s unique characteristics; and present a business model for budget consideration. The project was delivered successfully by December 2017.