Airport Access

City life improves with imminent opening of DART rail line to DFW Airport

Life in Dallas is poised for improvement, with the August 18 opening of a DART rail stop at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The service is part of the Orange Line, with a platform located between International Parkway and the north service road near Terminal A. It's the end point on a 4.7-mile extension from the Belt Line station.

The service creates an alternative to the current slate of more costly options such as the $50 cab ride, $20 shuttle or the minimum daily parking fee of $20. It joins other recent customer-friendly transportation models such as Uber and Lyft in making Dallas an easier, more urban place to live or visit.

Prior to the August 18 opening, DART will start the new schedule on August 4, to work out the kinks. Changes will primarily involve early morning and afternoon adjustments on existing Orange Line service between Belt Line and Parker Road stations, plus additional late-evening downtown Red and Blue Line trips. Green Line schedules will remain unchanged.

Fares and service frequencies remain the same, but some departure and arrival times will change. Earlier and later trips are being added, including five weekday morning trains entering service at Fair Park Station, plus a 5:18 am trip originating from Buckner Station, all continuing to DFW Airport Station at Terminal A.

Two bus routes that currently feed into the Orange Line at Belt Line Station will see some service changes, beginning on August 18. One will bring service to an emerging commercial and residential area, and the other meets a demand for expanded hours of operation.

Route 500 will no longer operate west of Freeport Parkway, but it will extend through Freeport to the Cypress Waters section of Dallas, north of Irving. Service will follow Freeport, Esters Road, Royal Lane, Royal Crossing, Regent, Belt Line, Saintsbury, Cypress Waters, Chapel Oaks and Water Mill.

Route 500 bus service between Terminal A and CentrePort/DFW Station of the TRE will be discontinued. TRE passengers will still be able to access airport terminals using the DFW shuttle from CentrePort. Buses on the new Route 500 will still run daily but less frequently: every 30 minutes during rush hour and every 40 minutes at other times.

Route 509 will be expanded to include Saturday service, once per hour, all day.

For more information, visit DART.org/dfwairportstation.

DART's DFW Airport Station is part of the Orange Line.

Photo courtesy of DART

DART's DFW Airport Station is part of the Orange Line.

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sticker shock

This is how much Texas gas prices have soared since last year

Close-Up of Woman Paying For Gas With Credit Card

Getty Images

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Dallasites who are feeling the sting at the gas pump aren't alone: Residents all around Texas are seeing soaring prices for regular and diesel fuel in 2026.

In fact, the Lone Star State has seen the fifth-highest percentage increase in gas prices in the country from April 2025 to April 2026, a just-released SmartAsset study has found. The current cost of a regular gallon of gas is 36.1 percent higher now than it was a year ago, and diesel is 60.9 percent more expensive.

The report, "Gas Prices Hit Records in 2026: State by State Breakdown," compared average gas prices from AAA from April 1, 2025 and April 1, 2026 and calculated the one-year change across all 50 states. The study looked at the price of a gallon of regular, premium, and diesel.

According to AAA, the cost of a regular gallon of gas in Texas at the start of April was $3.77, and premium is $4.62 per gallon. Diesel ticked over $5 a gallon — ouch — at $5.11.

Regular and diesel prices in Dallas are even costlier. A gallon of regular costs $3.89 at some Dallas-area pumps, and diesel is $5.19 per gallon. AAA says the highest recorded average price for gas in the city was in June 2022, when a gallon of regular cost $4.837 and diesel cost $5.476.

In Fort Worth and Arlington, current prices for a gallon of regular are $3.79, $4.57 for premium, and $5.09 for diesel.

Though Texas' gas prices are continuing to climb, it ranks 35th in the national ranking of states with the highest cost for regular gas as of April 2026. Texas' diesel prices are the 14th highest nationwide.

With the national average price for gas at $4.06, SmartAsset said the sudden surge in prices can be attributed to the United States' war on Iran, and "subsequent pressure on the Strait of Hormuz."

"Many states have experienced a 33 percent year-over-year increase in the cost of a gallon of regular gas – and in some places it’s even higher," the report's author wrote. "Commercial and public programs may be feeling similarly pinched, with diesel prices upwards of $6.00 per gallon in many states."

California currently has the highest average price for regular and diesel — $5.89 per gallon and $7.52 per gallon, respectively.

Arizona leads the nation with the highest one-year increase in gas prices. Regular gas in the Grand Canyon State is nearly 38 percent more expensive than it was last year, at $4.70 per gallon, and diesel is about 69 percent higher at $6.04 for a gallon.

The state with the cheapest gas prices in April is Oklahoma, where regular costs $3.27 per gallon, premium is $3.97, and diesel is $4.49.

gas prices texas smartasset