I'm done. Today is the last day I ride the DART train.

I work for the city of Dallas and have been riding the Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail for three to five days a week for seven years. I have money for a yearly pass taken out of each of my paychecks. I think $44 a month is cheaper than driving, when you also count wear and tear on your car. Not contributing to the North Texas traffic is also a plus.

The problem is that the DART train over the last couple of years has become a rolling homeless shelter. Almost every morning when I get on the 5:07 a.m. train leaving Rowlett, there are several (sometimes up to a half dozen) homeless people all throughout the train. They have all of their belongings with them scattered over several seats. They are sometimes in agitated mental states, if they are sober or conscious. Some leave food and urine all over the seats.

This morning was the last straw. A homeless man was on the train and he smelled so ripe that no one could sit in the same section of the train car with him. He was also in an agitated state and laughing and talking to himself. People moved to the front section of the car he was in, but the smell was still overwhelming. I am relatively certain that this man did not pay a fare to ride the train.

I hear on the news about all of the new apartment complexes and condominiums that developers are building along the rail lines, and the DART rail is always mentioned as a plus for the community, but it is all a facade. People will not ride the train under these conditions. Three people in my office alone refuse to ride the DART train for just these reasons.

Other cities have safe and clean commuter trains for their citizens; why can't Dallas? When you are on a train, you are at the mercy of your fellow passengers, whoever they may be. Turnstiles or some method of assuring that only paying riders are using this system seems to be the only answer to me.

Deb Rowles is a city of Dallas employee living in Rowlett. She wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News. Email: rowlesfps@yahoo.com

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