ARLINGTON, Texas—A North Texas community no longer is the largest city in America not to offer public transportation, at least for the next two years.

Arlington, with about 374,000 people, on Monday began a two-year pilot program called Metro Arlington Express, a limited public transportation service. It is a partnership with the University of Texas at Arlington, Fort Worth Transportation Authority and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports ( the city, university and various businesses are splitting the $700,000 annual cost of program.

MAX will be operating buses on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. at a standard fare of $5 with discounts to students, disabled passengers and those 65 years or older. There will be 18 daily departures with busses running every 30 minutes during rush hours and every hour any other time. Officials said they are expecting 300 to 600 riders each week.

The current route will connect the UT campus to some of the city's attractions such as Lincoln Square, AT&T Stadium and Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

If the pilot program proves successful the city will have to seek a 1-cent sales tax approval from voters in order to permanently fund the service and to keep the partnership with DART, the agency who owns the busses. The tax increase could generate about $50 million annually for Arlington, city officials said.


If the city doesn't take these steps after the two years, the DART partnership will terminate. But Arlington can choose to partner with other city transportation agencies. For example, Arlington can choose to strike a deal with the Fort Worth Transportation Authority and will only have to raise a 1/2-cent sales tax increase, but can expect a less thorough transit service than DART.

Another route the city can take is to create its own transportation authority agency providing its own resources, city officials said.

But officials have not committed to a specific plan and are waiting to see how successful the pilot program will be.

Arlington Councilwoman Kathryn Wilemon, who is a supporter of the program, said each plan has its pros and cons, but without seeing the results it's hard to tell what is the city's best option.

"If you can do it for a half-penny, why pay a whole?" Wilemon told the Star-Telegram. "But there's so much planning and so much to be done, because it's a regional issue."


Information from: Fort Worth Star-Telegram,