Irving Transportation Tips by grandmaR Top 5 Page for this destination

DFW Airport

I've only flown into DFW twice that I remember. Once in 1997 when I picked up a rental car, and once in 2004 when I visited our daughter in Frisco at which time she picked us up.

Dallas Fort Worth airport is a very big airport and it is said to be the 3rd busiest in the US. It covers more than 29.8 square miles; real property consists of 18,076 acres (7,318 hectares) which is the 2nd largest airport land mass in the US.. It is a hub for American Airlines. It is in what they call the Metroplex which consists of 126 communities in addition to Dallas and Fort Worth.

The Airport is operated and managed by the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Board. The Board is comprised of seven members from the City of Dallas, four from the City of Fort Worth, and one non-voting position occupied by - on an annual, rotating basis - each of the Airport?s neighboring cities of Irving, Grapevine, Euless and Coppell.

Most people that fly into DFW aren't really coming to Irving.

Mode: TO

Phone: 972 574 4420 Visitor assistance

Type: Airplane

Website: http://www.dfwairport.com/

DART onto the Bus

We drove to Irving by a somewhat circuitous route from Frisco. But the DART buses do come here. The website says:

Have your fare ready. Exact cash or change or a DART pass are acceptable fares. The base fare for most local trips is $1.25. Fareboxes accept $1 bills and/or coins, including $1 coins.

Day Passes are available on all buses and from ticket vending machines at rail stations. Passengers making transfers to a second bus or rail route will be required to pay a second fare or purchase a Day Pass (your best value-$2.50 Local, $4.50 Premium and $1.00 Reduced). These Day Passes will be good for unlimited rides (including your return trip) until 3 a.m., and eliminate the need for transfer slips.
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About one block from your stop, press one of the yellow plastic strips (next to the windows on most buses) or the red buttons (above passenger seats in other buses). This signals the operator that you want to get off at the next stop.

Mode: AROUND

Phone: Information 214 9791111

Type: Bus

Website: http://www.dart.org/riding.asp?zeon=howbus

Columbus to the Monorail

The old ship (a reconstruction of one of Columbus's boats) provided quite a contrast with the monorail. I understand this monorail is called a People mover and is a mile long. It went right up into the hotel in the same way that the monorails go to some of the Disney hotels at Disney World

A 2003 report says: "Las Colinas People mover is another urban people mover built in the early 1970?. The cost of Phase I is reported to be $45 million, which included 5 years of operation and maintenance by the vendor (Lynch, 1989). The APM is maintained and operated by the Dallas County Utility and Reclamation District, a governmental body, which is responsible for much of the Las Colinas infrastructure. Beginning in 1986, the people mover was equipped with four cars and power and control infrastructure by AEG-Westinghouse. Ridership was low and financial problems became so severe that the system shut down completely from July 1993 to December 1996. Since its re-opening, the APT has operated only from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm on weekdays, with two cars, one for each route. Operation is completely manual, with cars running on demand. Only one of the stations (Bell Tower) is generally accessible to the public. The other three are inside private office buildings. Most of the traffic consists of employees traveling to and from the Bell Tower for lunch."

On my initial visit in 1997, I did not get to ride this APM. So when I got down to Irving in 2006, we walked to the Bell Tower after lunch and went up in the elevator. There is a sign that says Push Button Below for Service, and when you push it a red light flashes, and a voice comes out of the loudspeaker to say how soon the car will be there.

The electricity was off at the building at one end of the line, so we could only go partway there, but I did ride all of the Blue Line and see the area from inside the cars except for that part, and on the Red Line, I get to go into the old Mandelay Hotel.

Mode: AROUND

Type: Train

Website: http://www.facilities.ufl.edu/cp/pdf/PeopleMovers.pdf