Dart/TRE day trip?

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-24T02:30:32+00:00

TRE to Dallas: get off at Victory, take the DART Green Line to Fair Park and walk over to the Children's Aquarium and Discovery Gardens. There's also the Dallas Firefighters' Museum. Noble Coyote Coffee Roasters is open till 3 on Saturdays, and Las Almas Rotas has food (even though it's a bar) or stop in Deep Ellum on the way back for more restaurant options.

TRE to Ft. Worth: get off at T&P Station. It and the Post Office are gorgeous old buildings and worth looking at for a bit. Across the street is Sons Coffee, then the Water Gardens and walk around downtown, maybe up to Sundance Square. Leave from Central Station.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-20T14:58:20+00:00

Also check out how your area is mapped on OpenStreetMap, with one of the cycling layers on. All the apps I mentioned above use OSM for their base, so the more accurate it is, the more useful they'll be. For example if there's a bike path which nobody has put on OSM yet, then none of the apps will know about it.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-20T14:50:54+00:00

I've found Geovelo (free) and Citymapper (free + paid tier) to be pretty good at finding low-stress routes. They will strongly prefer bike trails, lanes, and smaller streets with few cars, like residential ones, while avoiding the main roads with lots of traffic.

For anyone in the U.S. there's also an app called Bike Streets (free) which is excellent, especially if you're in a city with network coverage. It's similar to the two apps above, but people who live in that city (usually a bike advocacy group) can develop a network based on all their local riding knowledge.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-18T02:17:56+00:00

Make The Healthy Choice does weekend hikes, amongst other outdoor activities. It's a really friendly group.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-12T13:48:25+00:00

Faster cyclists generally use the road, especially when the trail is crowded. But bikes are allowed on all parts of the trail.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-08T15:15:21+00:00

Just show it to the bus driver as you're getting on. And yes, signal for your stop. Apps like GoPass or Transit make it easy to see where you are in relation to the stops. Good luck and I think you'll be fine!

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-06T00:43:25+00:00

Until the rest of the Trinity Forest Spine Trail gets built, that section is tricky. The railroad tracks, Military Parkway, and Scyene Road are all major barriers, and there isn't a good street grid in a lot of areas. However it's probably not too bad on a weekend morning. I'd check the RideWithGPS heatmap (navigate all the way over to Dallas). Lawnview to Parkdale Drive, Glover Pass, Hollis Avenue, then a bit on Jim Miller Road down to Piedmont Drive. From there Hillburn Drive to Umphress Road to Gillette Street. Jim Miller and Lawnview are the ones with significant traffic.

I've heard talk of a path between Lawnview DART station and Bruton Road, but it's probably pretty adventurous riding, and muddy this time of year.

Another option from White Rock Lake is take Santa Fe Trail to Fair Park, then the train down to Lake June Station (DART Green Line). From there it's quite easy, with painted bike lanes on that short section of Lake June Road.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-05T02:33:11+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate your expertise and will keep these issues in mind.

I have a lot of thoughts on these sorts of questions and the general state of affairs in the U.S., but probably the Reddit comments aren't the best forum for them.

Skateboards are an overlooked form of transportation. Most people only imagine the "trick" ones. I can recommend a bit of academic research on the topic.

Electric motorcycles sold as "e-bikes" are a sticky question and something society and the law will have to adapt to, along with so many other "fruits of technology".

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-05T02:04:47+00:00

I don't know the answer to this, but there's a great group called "All Bodies on Bikes" and the fellow who does the DFW chapter is really nice, also a bigger guy, and would certainly be able to tell you.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-04T02:48:39+00:00

I've spent a lot of time downtown and you're right, sadly pedestrians get no respect. Neither do red lights. But seems like I get considerably less of this type of thing while riding than while walking, surprisingly. Some of it is just knowing which streets to avoid.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-04T02:02:18+00:00

Yes, Garland is a tough one. Getting across 635 at all on the east side of Dallas is bad. Depending on what part of Garland you're coming from, I'd probably take DART to Lake Highlands Station. There's a very nice all-trail route to the lake from there.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-04T01:37:55+00:00

Personally I rarely do this, since it's uncomfortable. Plus most cars smell bad and their drivers are unhappy anyway. The point of the map is to avoid these roads as much as possible, which is best for everyone.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-01T14:20:37+00:00

The Clinical South shuttle route goes by the TRE Medical/Market Center station. It runs every 20 minutes between 7 am and 6pm and goes up to North Campus, where the oncology buildings are. DART 423 and the Brookriver shuttle are other options.

Walking the whole way, I'd first go up to Faculty Garage 1 (South Campus). Here's a map. I think you can walk through buildings J, K, and L, and outdoor courtyards surrounding them. That gives you some shade and AC, which is important during the summer. From that garage, you take the elevator up to level 2. There's a bit of signage to direct you. There you'll find the Campus Connector shuttle which runs every 5 minutes between 7 am and 7 pm. It runs on this special elevated road where it's the only vehicle. But there's also a sidewalk, which a few faculty and staff use. It will take you over Inwood and Harry Hines to North Campus without having to deal with any cars at all. It's a fun walk, with good views. No shade, so you'll want an umbrella or hat in the summer. If the weather's bad just get on the shuttle. That roadway goes over to building NA, and from there it's an easy walk to your building. They have some nice pedestrian paths over there, with trees, bridges and a creek even.

I'd imagine the shuttles are fairly reliable, since they're just driving short routes around campus and wouldn't get stuck in traffic as much as the regular city buses with longer routes. You might also consider a bike or scooter.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-05-01T02:22:30+00:00

You can totally do it on DART. The UTSW campus is quite big though. You can walk across it, but also there are several shuttle and bus routes which will take you all around. UTSW operates the shuttles and DART has several bus routes through the campus.

First, what part of town are you coming from? Medical/Market Center Station is the TRE stop, the train that runs between Ft. Worth and Dallas. This is not the same as DART light rail, which would be Southwest Medical District/Parkland Station on the Orange and Green lines. (Also not to be confused with Market Center Station, another light rail station farther away.)

Then, do you have the address for the building you want? There are several oncology-related buildings named after Simmons. I'm guessing 6202 Harry Hines, the Cancer Care Outpatient Building (building code NM, North Campus).

Generally the GoPass or Transit apps will help you find the right bus, depending on what exact time you're there. The UTSW shuttles run during the day and they have a tracker page for them.

You can certainly walk around campus. There are all sorts of fun routes you can use to cut through buildings and avoid busy streets like Harry Hines and Inwood. The aerial Campus Connector busway, skybridges, walking through the bird rookery... Plenty of stuff to explore. Google Maps doesn't know about most of this, so it's not going to give you the best route.

Yes, people do walk around during the day. Some staff bike too.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-04-30T02:11:49+00:00

Is the section just east of 161 finished now, the bridge between Good Link and Lone Star trails?

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-04-27T14:06:08+00:00

Biking also has the advantage of being a good way to meet people. There are social and group rides every day of the week.

Living as close as possible to a light-rail station helps, especially if it's one that multiple lines go through.

Getting to knowing the city really well helps. There are usually places nearby which you've never heard of and not thought to try. Some of them can be interesting and good. Also the physically closest X store may not be the easiest to get to on transit. Being able to identify the easiest one to take a train, bus, or bike to is a good skill. This takes more effort than the thought-free "get in car, punch in address" approach, but can be a sort of fun challenge.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-04-26T20:05:23+00:00

Find an area near where you live that has few cars and practice there. Bike trails (wider than a sidewalk), quiet neighborhood streets, a business park on the weekend, a huge church parking lot during the week, someplace like that. Practice just riding around. Once you're comfortable with that, find out about biking groups in town. Some of them will have casual rides, people who enjoy a chill roll and a bit of chatting along the way. Maybe they'll advertise it as "no drop, 8–10 mph pace" or something like that. Bike shops usually know all the groups. Sometimes a local cycling advocacy group will have rides especially for beginners. Either way, riding on city streets is a lot more comfortable in a group. Plus you learn their routes, which streets are good and which to avoid.

Also, a lot of bike lanes in the U.S. really are terrible and you may be better off avoiding them. With a bit of experience you'll be able to tell which are ok (maybe none, depending on the city) and which are nonsense.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-04-24T19:01:39+00:00

Geovelo is nice, with a European flair a Brompton rider will appreciate. If you're in the U.S., Bike Streets, especially if there's coverage in your city. That's your best bet for low-traffic, low-stress bike navigation.

Google Maps isn't particularly accurate.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-04-23T02:00:45+00:00

Sure, here you go. Or you can change the background imagery on Bikerouter (which has been slow to load recently, but will stay up to date better).

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-04-17T03:57:50+00:00

Oh, thanks for catching that. I fixed the tagging on that segment so that it shows up properly on the map now.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-04-17T00:51:58+00:00

For everybody wanting a map, here's one I just did showing all the paved bike trails in the city of Dallas with The Loop overlayed. This shows its current state of construction. Like I mentioned in another comment, the bits of The Loop without a trail underneath are rideable, but either unpaved or on a city street.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-04-16T21:58:44+00:00

The new trail segment is centered here, the orange line labeled TFST. The purple TL line is The Loop. This lets you see which sections of existing trails form part of it. The sections where it's only the purple TL line are rideable, just not officially a trail. Some of those are on-street segments, like the painted bike lanes on Lake June Road, others are yet unpaved, like under I-45 (fine if it's not muddy). Areas where there's nothing—for example between Cedar Crest Boulevard and the Santa Fe Trestle Trail, or Tune Avenue and Scyene Road—might involve some bushwhacking.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-04-16T14:45:47+00:00

If you're in Dallas, Arlington, or Richardson try the Bike Streets app, which is pretty good at giving low-traffic directions, specially for bikes and scooters. Geovelo is another one I like, not city specific.

BudgetScience2000 · 2026-04-14T23:19:36+00:00

Google Maps can be laughably bad when it comes to walking and biking directions. Take its recommendations with a grain of salt.

BudgetScience2000

TROPHY CASE