WELCOME

That's a big improvement over its long wait for a

April 9, 2017 by Elizabeth Duran

That's a big improvement over its long wait for a fully-functional line, but it's not the only big benefit. The city has built a new parking lot on the edge of Arlington's downtown, and the city is already offering a discount on all private parking. (And, it's not just the cost of installing parking facilities; Arlington also has a new high-speed train system and other new amenities, like a high-speed train station that would bring more cars to the city.) As it turns out, Arlington's transit experience has been remarkably similar to other cities in the U.S. and Europe, with more of a single-use system, like Parisian trains.

The city has taken steps to improve its bus service, but the only good news is that the new service will require a driver. The cost of using the new service is about $50 per hour. (The cost per car will probably drop by $25 to $45, depending on how you count the additional parking.)

But it's not so different than cities that have had bus stops for years, like Los Angeles and Chicago. The city is now offering drivers $40-a-minute per hour, based on average costs—and a discount. (You'll have to pay $10 or $15 per hour for parking.) And drivers say the city has an excellent track record of offering people who like to use the bus much more. "You're really starting to see that the drivers are having a little bit more fun," says Mike Miller, who works in the transportation department at the University of Texas. "We don't have any real high-school dropout numbers, but you're more likely to see them doing it in the city than a lot of other cities."

The city is not alone. In the U.S., the number of people using public transportation has only risen by about 1% over the past decade, even as rates have continued to rise. (As a result, many drivers think they're not using public transit at all, and are only making trips to and from the city.) But Arlington says it has been able to make improvements to its service, and the city has a much better track record than many of its American peers. It's also making the process of getting to Arlington easier. "When you have the first day of service, you're already waiting a lot longer than you used to," says Chris L. Jones, whose family owns a real estate development in Arlington called The Big City. "