Dallas Area Rapid Transit and city managers from member cities are considering changes to DART’s governance system that would remove Dallas’s voting majority and grant more voting power to the suburban cities.
Some member cities have expressed concerns over representation on the DART board amid five cities’ upcoming elections to withdraw from DART.
Dallas city officials gave an overview of the status of DART negotiations and the proposed new governance structure at Dallas City Council’s transportation and infrastructure committee Jan. 20.
Some context
A working group of DART representatives and member city managers began meeting last year to negotiate issues related to DART governance, service and funding. The group is currently working to come to an agreement on new plans and frameworks in order to avoid cities’ withdrawals from DART.
Dallas Assistant City Manager Dev Rastogi said the group has established shared goals for future DART governance—primarily that cities should have equitable representation on the DART board with no one city holding a majority vote.
Dallas currently holds a voting majority of over 50% on the 15-member board, although Rastogi said some significant decisions require a two-thirds majority vote. Seats are allocated proportionally to population—Dallas holds seven seats, Garland, Irving and Plano each hold one, and the remaining cities are represented by shared portions of seats.
Changes to DART governance have been proposed before, but none have been implemented. A bill filed during the last Texas legislative session proposed reducing Dallas’s board representation to 20%. DART also proposed, but did not move forward with, a resolution in March 2025 to give each member city one representative on the board with a vote weighted by population.
What’s new
The working group of DART representatives and city managers is discussing a new governance framework that would set “one city, one vote” as the baseline for representation. Each city would be guaranteed at least one individual seat on a 20-seat board.
“One city, one vote is not arbitrary,” Rastogi said. “It is tied directly to how DART is funded, the 1% sales tax rate. This rate creates an equivalent financial stake from each city, and giving each city a foundational equal voice on the board represents that.”
Cities with a population over 250,000 would receive additional seats—Dallas would hold five seats on the board and Garland, Irving and Plano would hold two seats each. Carrollton and Richardson, which have populations over 100,000, would also receive additional vote weight.
Changes in representation due to population updates would be considered every five years.
This new governance framework would remove Dallas’s voting majority, giving the city 40% of the vote, while granting more weight to the suburban member cities.
What they’re saying
Committee members voiced opposition to losing Dallas’s majority position on the DART board.
“Why should the city of Dallas give up governance control when it contributes approximately half the revenue, half the service area and the majority of the ridership?” council member Cara Mendelsohn said.
Vice chair Bill Roth also said that 40% will not be enough representation for Dallas on the DART board and that the city should push to retain a 50% vote.
“Our goal is for the system to succeed, for the system to be healthy, for the system to be respectful, and to work together and not to take advantage of being the biggest piece in the system,” council member Kathy Stewart said. “We need to listen to those other cities.”
What’s next
The committee voted 4-3 to approve the basic governance guidelines and to direct the Dallas city manager to negotiate Dallas’s voting weight between 40% and 50% on the DART board.
The working group is continuing negotiations, and March 18 is the last day cities can withdraw an item from the May ballot.
