Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) operates mass transit service in

Greater Des Moines The Des Moines metropolitan area, officially known as the Des Moines–West Des Moines, IA Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is located at the confluence of the Des Moines River and the Raccoon River. Des Moines serves as the capital and larg ...

. It is the largest public transit agency operating in the state of

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

History

DART was founded in 1973 as the Des Moines Metropolitan Transit Authority, commonly known as the MTA. Formed by a partnership of the cities of

Des Moines Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

, West Des Moines, Clive, Windsor Heights, and Urbandale. The MTA eventually developed a 14-county carpool and vanpool system in addition to its bus system. By 2006, population growth in varying regions of central Iowa led to Polk County and nineteen cities forming a regional transportation agency following changes to Iowa law in 2005. Sunday service was added for the first time in 2007. In 2008, a free shuttle linked downtown Des Moines with the

Iowa State Capitol The Iowa State Capitol, commonly called the Iowa Statehouse, is in Iowa's capital city, Des Moines. As the seat of the Iowa General Assembly, the building houses the Iowa Senate, Iowa House of Representatives, the Office of the Governor, and the ...

. DART has offered a Park & Ride service during the

Iowa State Fair The Iowa State Fair is an annual state fair held in Des Moines, Iowa, every August. It began in 1854 and has been held on the Iowa State Fairgrounds since 1886. It is based in the state capital Des Moines, Iowa over an 11 day period in August ...

since 2006. Free wifi connectivity began to be offered on all buses in 2018. This was implemented at the same time new fareboxes were installed, which required an internet connection. DART began a pilot

electric bus An electric bus is a bus that is propelled using electric motors, as opposed to a conventional internal combustion engine. Electric buses can store the needed electrical energy on board, or be fed mains electricity continuously from an external ...

program in October 2020, starting with seven

Proterra Catalyst The Proterra Catalyst is a battery-electric low-floor transit bus that was built by Proterra from 2014 to 2020. The second generation of Proterra's battery-electric buses, it succeeded the earlier EcoRide as the company's flagship product. H ...

buses on route 60 (Ingersoll/University). The pilot program was funded by a grant from the

Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...

, with a local match from

MidAmerican Energy MidAmerican Energy Company is an energy company based in Des Moines, Iowa. Its service area includes almost two-thirds of Iowa, as well as portions of Illinois, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Its territory is wholly encompassed by the territory of ...

. Due to numerous issues with the buses, including suspension and weatherproofing issues, all seven buses were sidelined in fall 2022 shortly before their major manufacturer warranties expired. Despite attempts from Proterra technicians to address the issues, they were never fully resolved, and the buses were retired from the DART fleet in early 2025. DART is represented by a board of 12 Commissioners, one from each member government it serves. DART serves Altoona, Ankeny, Bondurant, Clive,

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, Johnston, Pleasant Hill, Urbandale, West Des Moines, Windsor Heights, and greater Polk County.

Structure

DART utilizes a

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system, designed to favor commuters, as opposed to point-to-point system. The network was redesigned in 2012 to utilize the new DART Central Station, which most local and express routes terminate at or pass through. A secondary hub around

Valley West Mall Valley West Mall is an enclosed super-regional shopping mall in West Des Moines, Iowa. The mall's only anchor store is JCPenney. There are two vacant anchor stores that were once Younkers and Von Maur. History Frederick Watson, a developer fr ...

connects multiple western routes. A northern crosstown route 50 (Euclid/Douglas Crosstown) was added in 2018. DART also has On Call routes that operate within specific zones in the Greater Des Moines area.

DART Central Station

Located at 620 Cherry Street in

downtown Des Moines Downtown Des Moines is the central business district of Des Moines, Iowa and the Greater Des Moines Metropolitan Area. Downtown Des Moines is defined by the City of Des Moines as located between the Des Moines River to the east, the Raccoon Rive ...

, DART Central station serves as the primary hub of the DART system. The $21 million bus transfer station opened in November 2012 on the south end of downtown, ending decades of using Walnut Street as a transit mall. DART Central Station has been certified LEED Platinum, the highest certification of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Rating System of the U.S. Green Building Council. The site was selected in part due to proximity of the historic

Rock Island Railroad The original Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At ...

depot, which is hoped to have passenger rail service in the future. It was designed by Substance Architecture, built by Weitz Construction, and contains both a bicycle storage room and a cafe.

Routes

Local routes

Express rush hour-only routes

Former routes

*2 Kingman (Discontinued on June 8, 2004, due to budget crisis) *9 Express Service (Split into Routes 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, and 96) *12 Urbandale Business Park (Discontinued on April 25, 2010, due to budget crisis) *51 Merle Hay Crosstown (merged with Route 5 on August 23, 2015) *71 Ankeny / Delaware Avenue (Discontinued on November 23, 2012) *73 Urbandale / Windsor Heights FLEX (peak only, 20-30 minutes; replaced by DART Flex Connect on October 13, 2019) *90 Airport South Business Park Express (Discontinued on June 10, 2012; replaced by extension of Route 8) *91 Merle Hay Express (Discontinued on October 1, 2017; replaced by extension of Route 5) *97 SW Park Avenue Express (Discontinued on November 22, 2003, due to budget crisis) *Windsor Heights Express (replaced with new Urbandale Express and On Call Service on March 4, 2002) *Urbandale Express (replaced with new Urbandale Express and On Call Service on March 4, 2002) *Summer Special (replaced with new Urbandale Express and On Call Service on March 4, 2002)

Shuttles

* The LINK (free) * D-Line Shuttle discontinued November 2024 *Iowa State Fair Park & Ride Shuttle

Flex Connect in Urbandale/NW Des Moines

Flex Connect is a new on-demand service DART is testing that connects riders in the Flex Connect zone to DART buses. Flex Connect replaced Flex Route 73 in Urbandale and Windsor Heights. With Flex Connect on weekdays, riders in the zone can book an Uber, YellowCabCo. taxi or a DART accessible vehicle to take them to and from one of three transfer points: Gloria Dei Park & Ride, Buccaneer Arena Park & Ride or Merle Hay Mall. From there, riders can connect to DART buses via routes 5, 14, 16, 50, 92 or 93.

On call

* Ankeny * Bondurant *Easter Lake * Grimes

Fares and Passes

Fares

The following fares are charged on the various services DART operates:

Unlimited Ride Passes

Fleet

Fixed Route Ridership

The ridership and service statistics shown here are of fixed route services only and do not include demand response. Per capita statistics are based on the Des Moines urbanized area as reported in NTD data. Starting in 2011, 2010 census numbers replace the 2000 census numbers to calculate per capita statistics.

Gallery

File:DART 1020.jpg, 2010 Orion VII NG #1020 File:DART 1028.jpg, 2010 Orion VII EPA10 HEV #1028 (retired) File:DART 1029.jpg, 2013 New Flyer XDE35 #1029 File:DART 1413.jpg, 2014 New Flyer XD40 #1413 File:DART 1630.jpg, 2016 New Flyer XD40 #1630 File:DART NFI XD35 1809.jpg, 2018 New Flyer XD35 #1809 File:DART 1813.jpg, 2018 New Flyer XD40 #1813 File:DART 2012.jpg, 2020 Gillig Low Floor Plus 29' #2012 File:DART 2016.jpg, 2021 New Flyer XD40 #2016 File:DART 2103.jpg, 2021 Gillig Low Floor Plus 29' #2103 File:DART 2113.jpg, 2022 New Flyer XD40 #2113 File:DART 2303.jpg, 2023 Gillig Low Floor Plus 29' #2303 File:DART 26442.jpg, 2006 Orion VII #26442 (retired) File:DART Orion VII NG 28460.jpg, 2008 Orion VII NG #28460 File:DART 1011 interior.jpg, 2010 Orion VII NG #1011 interior File:DART 1023 interior.jpg, 2012 Orion VII EPA10 #1023 interior File:DART 1028 interior.jpg, 2010 Orion VII EPA10 HEV #1028 interior File:DART 1621 interior.jpg, 2016 New Flyer XD40 #1621 interior File:DART 1810 interior.jpg, 2018 New Flyer XD35 #1810 interior File:DART 28459 interior.jpg, 2008 Orion VII NG #28459 interior

References

External links

Official Site
{{Iowa public transit Bus transportation in Iowa Transit agencies in Iowa Ankeny, Iowa Urbandale, Iowa