Officials Rally to Support Commuter Rail

By Gordon Dickson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

May 3–Calling commuter rail “the future people mover of this community,” Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief joined several dozen other elected officials who rallied Wednesday in support of a sales tax increase of up to 1 cent for transit in North Texas.

A group of mayors from such cities as Burleson and North Richland Hills ceremoniously rode the Trinity Railway Express from Richland Hills to a Fort Worth station.

Two bills in the state Legislature would allow North Texas cities to ask voters’ permission to raise sales taxes for commuter rail — and area leaders are cautiously optimistic that one or the other version will pass.

“We believe regional rail is the answer to help people move in North Texas quickly, safely and economically,” Moncrief told gatherers at the Intermodal Transportation Center. “We can’t build roads — be they freeways or tollways — fast enough to meet the need.”

Raising the cap?

The state cap on sales taxes is 8.25 percent, of which 6.25 percentage points goes to the state and the rest for local needs. The bills in question would allow up to another cent for metro areas to use on public transportation.

Senate Bill 257 will be heard by the Senate Finance Committee at 8:30 this morning.

House Bill 2084 was approved by a committee. The next step is a House floor debate.

Commuter rail plans

What kind of commuter rail system do area leaders have in mind? Imagine a service similar to the Trinity Railway Express, which runs between downtown Fort Worth and Dallas, going to all kinds of new places — Hulen Mall to Denton, Carrollton to Arlington, Cleburne to Plano, etc.

Arlington Councilwoman Kathryn Wilemon, who rode the TRE on Wednesday, was impressed with the number of carpools delivering riders to the train stations.

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Gordon Dickson, 817-685-3816 gdickson@star-telegram.com

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Copyright (c) 2007, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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