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Araceli Campos (left) chats with Gloria Gonzalez as they travel on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) route 30 bus to the Lake June Station at the start of her two hour long commute to Highland Park on Friday, May 15, 2026. Highland Park residents voted to leave DART in May 2026 after spending more than 40 years as part of the transit network.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Araceli Campos says bye to a friend and hops off the bus on Route 237, colorful purse in hand and blue sneakers on her feet. She starts her walk through the tree-lined streets of Highland Park<\/a>, past historic estates and designer stores. It’s been nearly two hours since she first boarded the bus at 7 a.m. in Pleasant Grove.\u00a0<\/p>\n This has been her settled routine for the past six years. But on Thursday, the bus didn’t\u00a0stop, her bus stop\u00a0the casualty of a vote by Highland Park residents<\/a> to end the town’s relationship with Dallas Area Rapid Transit. Overnight, the walk on the last stretch of her commute to work at a house in the town nearly tripled.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Araceli Campos walks a little over 20 minutes to her work in Highland Park after the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) 237 bus drops her off at Preston @ Normandy in University Park on Friday, May 15, 2026. Highland Park residents voted to leave DART in May 2026 after spending more than 40 years as part of the transit network.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News Araceli Campos boards Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) route 30 bus close to her home in Dallas at the start of her two hour long commute to Highland Park on Friday, May 15, 2026. Highland Park residents voted to leave DART in May 2026 after spending more than 40 years as part of the transit network.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n It takes a toll on her 59-year-old legs. And she’s dreading July.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people who work there are already older, 50 and up,\u201d Campos said. \u201cWe\u2019re tired \u2014 we get home and we\u2019re exhausted. \u2026 Now that they added more distance, there\u2019s more fatigue.\u201d<\/p>\n Between Bentleys, Porsches and G-Wagons zipping by, a big yellow and blue DART bus<\/a> rumbles down Preston Road. Route 237 is the only bus line in Highland Park, but it no longer pulls over at the 15 stops within the town\u2019s boundaries.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n During the morning rush, the bus half-full, mainly with women like\u00a0Campos \u2014 housekeepers, nannies and restaurant employees who traverse multiple buses, trains, cars and sidewalks for hours each morning to get to work, and who have done so for years or even decades. \u00a0<\/p>\n Araceli Campos (left) must walk a little over 20 minutes to her work in Highland Park after the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) 237 bus drops her off at Preston @ Normandy in University Park on Friday, May 15, 2026. Highland Park residents voted to leave DART in May 2026 after spending more than 40 years as part of the transit network.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n The Dallas area is reckoning\u00a0with the value of public transportation<\/a> and how it is provided after several cities called elections to leave DART, with leaders saying it costs too much for too little. While the elections resulted in only one city jumping ship, it\u2019s the women on Route 237 who are paying the price.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Their routes to work, already lengthy and complex, just got a little more difficult, and alternatives are unfamiliar to years of routine.<\/p>\n Highland Park On-Demand<\/p>\n In place of the banished bus stops<\/a>, Highland Park launched a local van service at a fraction of the cost for the town. \u00a0<\/p>\n A fleet of four on-demand vans can be reached by phone or through an app to shuttle people around town<\/a> and up to a mile outside its borders. The rides are free for the next six months, then the Town Council will reevaluate.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Most women on Route 237 said they haven\u2019t heard of Highland Park On-Demand, don\u2019t know how to access it or worry it won\u2019t get them to work on time, although some were interested in the service<\/a>. Some signs advertising the on-demand app at closed bus stops were in English, while many of the women commuting speak only Spanish.<\/p>\n Araceli Campos looks out the window while riding on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Green Line during her two hour long commute to Highland Park on Friday, May 15, 2026. Highland Park residents voted to leave DART in May 2026 after spending more than 40 years as part of the transit network.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Highland Park Mayor Will\u00a0Beecherl said DART did not make financial sense<\/a> for the town, which has a population of around 8,700 and is 2.3 square miles, located around three miles north of the center of Dallas.<\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the wealthiest towns in Texas, with a median household income greater than $250,000. Residents may not need to take the bus, but their housekeepers and restaurant workers do,\u00a0Campos said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe workers are the ones who always use the bus,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are few \u2026 [but] we serve them.\u201d<\/p>\n The town pays around $9 million annually to DART through a one-cent sales tax<\/a> for a route that sees about 35 boardings each weekday<\/a>. The agency does not report the average number of riders who disembark at each bus stop in the town.<\/p>\n While service ended Thursday, the town will continue to pay until all debts associated with its contributions are paid off. That\u2019s too much, Beecherl said, for DART\u2019s paratransit, on-demand service<\/a> and the one bus on Preston.\u00a0<\/p>\n Araceli Campos walks a little over 20 minutes to her work in Highland Park after the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) 237 bus drops her off at Preston @ Normandy in University Park on Friday, May 15, 2026. Highland Park residents voted to leave DART in May 2026 after spending more than 40 years as part of the transit network.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n The long way to work<\/p>\n Margarita Mendoza, 62, works as a dishwasher at Sadelle\u2019s in Highland Park Village<\/a>, an upscale restaurant with caviar and a nearly $30 cheeseburger on the menu. She works morning and evening shifts three or four days a week \u2014 \u201cotherwise, it\u2019s not enough,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n It takes an hour, a 25-minute walk and two buses to get from her home in Addison to the shiny gold-lettered storefront, a commute she sometimes begins before six in the morning three or four days of the week. For four years, that\u2019s been her routine, disembarking at Mockingbird and Preston.<\/p>\n She has a car, but the employee parking lot fills up and the $6 she pays to use DART<\/a> every day is cheaper than paying to park.\u00a0Mendoza wasn\u2019t informed on how to access the on-demand service.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to leave earlier because we have to walk and wait,\u201d\u00a0Mendoza said. \u201cWhen it rains and with the heat \u2026 it does affect us.\u201d<\/p>\n For two decades, Alicia\u00a0Medrano\u2019s husband has driven her from Princeton to Plano in the morning, where she then takes DART<\/a> to get to work as a housekeeper in University Park. She followed the elections closely, concerned what it would mean for the women who take the bus. The on-demand service is not known to many riders, she said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Margarita Mendoza, a dishwasher at a restaurant in the Highland Park Village, walks towards her job after parking in Highland Park, Thursday, May 14, 2026. Mendoza, who normally took the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), must now drive to work everyday. Highland Park residents voted to leave DART in May 2026 after spending more than 40 years as part of the transit network.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n \u201cNobody has talked about it, so nobody knows about it,\u201d\u00a0Medrano said. \u201cYou don’t know how long you’re going to have to wait. \u2026 Some people have to be at a certain time at work.\u201d<\/p>\n The service works like other\u00a0ride-hailing\u00a0platforms, similar to Uber or Lyft. While the paratransit services can be pre-booked, regular rides cannot, and wait times are subject to location and demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n Medrano has concerns about how DART is run and believes the services could be improved. But Highland Park\u2019s withdrawal will complicate the commutes for \u201cthe people that need it most,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n DART Board Chair Randall Bryant said his agency is focused on informing the riders who are impacted by the service cuts triggered by Highland Park\u2019s withdrawal<\/a>. In a system covering a dozen cities, losing members causes disruptions to connectivity, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most unfortunate part of this process \u2026 is the voices of those that probably rely on and depend on the services most \u2026 were probably not the voters,\u201d Bryant said. \u201cOur rides cross multiple city lines.\u201d<\/p>\n Margarita Mendoza, a dishwasher at a restaurant in the Highland Park Village, poses for a photo after parking in Highland Park, Thursday, May 14, 2026. Mendoza, who normally took the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), must now drive to work everyday. Highland Park residents voted to leave DART in May 2026 after spending more than 40 years as part of the transit network.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Re-routed routine<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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