By Hexel Colorado on March 24, 2023

This is the third installment in a series of trip plans I take across Dallas. Because I don’t own a car, I rely heavily on public transit and cycling to reach my destinations. I document my trip plans with two audiences in mind: transportation planners who can read these articles as real-world data, and transit riders who might find useful tips for navigating the city without a car.

The Tasks

The Greater Dallas Planning Council (GDPC) has a breakfast meeting every month at Park City Clubin the Sherry Lane Place tower in the Preston Center district. I’m attending to hear updates on the Fair Park Master Plan. My target arrival time is 7:30am.

The meeting is expected to end around 9:30am. Sherry Lane Place has good wi-fi and plenty of coworking space. I’ll work there on my laptop until my next meeting.

The Urban Research Cluster (URC) at SMU is hosting a presentation by Dr. Nicos Makris (professor in civil engineering) and Georgios Chatzikyriakidis (grad student). I registered to hear them present “research on measurement of resilience in cities using cellphone data.” I need to arrive at Gerald J Ford Hall by 12:30 pm.

The Plans

Sherry Lane Place is in the Preston Center district, southeast of the DNT and Loop 12 junction.

PART 1: Preston Center

Ride-hailing. Sherry Lane Place is 7 miles away from my home in Old East Dallas. The last time I attended a meeting there, I hailed Lyft going there and back. Google’s estimated drive time is 22 minutes. Based on my average 8-minute pickup time, I estimate this approach takes 30-minutes.

Bus is impractical. Getting there by two bus connection is estimated to take 60 minutes. I explained my “thirty-minute limit” rule in my first mobility review; traditional bus clearly does not fit this trip.

GoLink. I’ve used DART’s on-demand curb-to-curb service a few times in Park Cities, Plano, and Carrollton. I’ve also used the comparable services offered in Denton County (GoZone) and the City of Arlington (Via). Despite all my experience, this will be my first time ever using GoZone during rush hour.

Infographic map of the Park Cities GoLink zone from the official DART website.

In order to use GoLink, I need request pickup from within the same “GoLink zone” as my destination. I can also be picked up at a “GoLink connection”: special locations outside of the zone that still qualify pickup requests. The Park Cities zone has two connections: SMU/Mockingbird Station and Inwood/Love Field Station.

My Plan. The drive time from Mockingbird Station to Sherry Lane Place is estimated at 15 minutes. To be safe, I’ll double that time and plan on needing 30 minutes (wouldn’t hurt to be early). This means I want to be picked up from Mockingbird Station at 7:00 am.

1. I’ll call the GoLink hotline (214–515–7272) at 6:00 am to book pickup at the station. One hour is the maximum amount of time you’re allowed to book in advance.
2. I’ll ride my e-bike to SMU/Mockingbird in 8 minutes and lock it there. I could take Bus 105 to the station, but taking my e-bike gives me a backup if something goes wrong with GoLink.
3. I’ll board the GoLink vehicle at Mockingbird and ride to my first destination in Preston Center. We’ll see how smoothly this process goes.

DART GoLink Van

PART 2: University Park

Main Plan. My plan to get from Preston Center to my final destination on the SMU Campus is straight-forward: I want to be picked up at 12:00 pm, so I’ll call GoLink an hour before.

Backup Plan. My main plan assumes I successfully used GoLink to get to Preston Center. If I had used my e-bike instead, then I’ll need to use it to get to SMU. No big deal: only 3 miles between Preston Center and SMU, which takes only 15 minutes on a regular bicycle. Honestly, this trip is ideal for cycling as the first choice in almost any situation. If I wasn’t actively trying to test the limits of DART service, I would advise anyone to just stick with cycling this itinerary if they can.

SMU Express Blue Shuttle (DART 442)

PART 3: Going Home on SMU Express

After my last event, I might decide to stay and do my work on campus. This will be the first I’ve ever been to SMU in the middle of a weekday (I’m not a student, nor am I affiliated with the school in any way).

Main Plan. If everything with GoLink goes as expected for previous parts of my journey, I won’t have my e-bike with me on campus. My main plan is to take the SMU Express Blue Shuttle (DART 442) from campus to Mockingbird Station, where I’ll retrieve my bike and head home.

Backup Plan. I’ve used the Blue Shuttle to get from campus to Mockingbird Station a couple time successfully. However, one time it never showed up to bring me the reverse direction — from station to campus. If that happens, I’ll just walk; it’s an easy 1 mile / 20 minutes.

Improvement Opportunities

I’ll go into greater detail on how to improve GoLink in a future blog post. Here is my quick rundown:

• Remove the one-hour scheduling limit on GoLink. It would be far more convenient for riders and allow GoLink to execute more efficient pathfinding, especially when servicing multiple passengers at once.
• Allow for recurring booking schedules. It’s reasonable to charge a premium fee for this service. It’ll make daily commuting with GoLink more reliable and further increase system efficiency.
• Coordinate with property management of apartment complexes, business centers, and doctors’ offices. Multi-building facilities are a pain for Uber and Lyft. It’s even worse for GoLink drivers, who are more prone to giving up and moving on.
• Give clearer instructions in GoPass app for passengers awaiting pickup. I’ve heard and witnessed several stories of passengers missing their pickup just because the passenger didn’t know the correct place to wait. Currently, the app gives zero instructions on how and where to wait.
• Make GoLink signage bigger and more obvious. Yellow is scientifically proven to be easier to spot from a distance, thus why bus stops are yellow. GoLink signage, on the other hand, are blue and white. Further, the text is also hard to read when staring up from the ground.

GoLink sign in Joppee neighborhood.