Katherine Carmichael’s train trips to Dallas with her grandson will cost less this spring.
The Fort Worth resident pays $12 per person for a round-trip regional ticket on the Trinity Railway Express, but will spend a few dollars less for the trek east after the Trinity Metro board approved lower fares Jan. 20.
Starting March 1, the Fort Worth transit agency will charge $9 for a regional day pass. The change is meant to make fares uniform with other North Texas’ transit services in Dallas, Collin and Denton counties, officials said.
“We take fun excursions to Dallas so I think that’s wonderful,” Carmichael said while waiting for an Amtrak train Jan. 21 at the Fort Worth Central Station. “It’s nice that it will cost a little bit less.”
Her twin sister, Carol Jones, said the fare change will make it easier for people to ride the passenger rail train from Fort Worth to Dallas.
“Trinity Metro is great as a whole,” she said, noting that she has used the agency’s bus and rail services.
Ridership on the TRE train reached about 107,000 in December, a slight increase from November when more than 102,000 riders were recorded, data shows.
Trinity Metro leaders initially planned to implement fare changes in September 2024, but waited until officials with Dallas Area Rapid Transit and Denton County Transportation Authority approved similar fare reductions. Trinity Metro and DART jointly own and operate the Trinity Railway Express.
“Staff believes that reducing the regional day pass from $12 to $9 will help attract new riders to TRE and lure back some who may have stopped riding during COVID,” said Phil Dupler, director of planning for Trinity Metro.
The current pricing model hampered ridership as people worked from home or on hybrid schedules, according to a staff report.
“Riders frequently cite the cost of regional day passes as prohibitive, especially for weekend trips and events where travelers can share driving and parking costs,” officials wrote in the report.
Although regional fares will decrease, reduced ticket rates will increase slightly, going from $3 to $4.50 for a daily regional pass. The cost for a reduced 31-day monthly pass will also rise, from $48 to $96. The standard monthly pass remains $192.
Dupler said reduced fares are for riders who are seniors, disabled or students.
A 2022 survey by the North Central Texas Council of Governments shows that some riders take unfair advantage of reduced fares in purchases not overseen by train personnel.
“Evidence suggests that some ineligible passengers exploit the 75% discount by purchasing reduced regional fares from ticket vending machines or GoPass, as TRE conductors lack authority to verify eligibility,” officials wrote in the report. “Survey findings support this concern: reduced monthly regional passes represent 53% of all monthly pass sales, compared to just 33% for all other pass categories. This adjustment will help deter fare evasion while aligning these fare categories with the federally recommended 50% discount standard used nationwide.”
Irving resident Brian Crockett, who uses the Trinity Railway Express to commute to his Tarrant County College job in downtown Fort Worth, said the TRE price changes are fair.
“It will be nice to not have to pay as much,” he said. “Twelve dollars is not so bad but any reduction is great.”
Eric E. Garcia is senior business reporter at the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at eric.garcia@fortworthreport.org.
Disclosure: Trinity Metro is a financial supporter of the Report. News decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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