Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) is on a cleanliness kick: According to a release, the agency has launched an effort to address the cleanliness and overall maintenance of DART facilities, including bus stops, transfer and train stations, buses, and Light Rail Vehicles.

Called Live Green, Ride Clean, the campaign is part of a plan to improve customer satisfaction, which they aim to do via the following:

• Hygiene Standards: Cleaning stations, bus shelters, trains, and buses
• Landscape: More plants and landscape materials
• Improve Functionality: Maintenance work to address operational issues and ensure equipment is working
• Elevate User Experience: Create a more inviting and user-friendly environment for visitors and employees

DART uses mainline cleaning, a practice where Light Rail Vehicles are cleaned throughout the day, even when the vehicle is in service. All vehicles are brought into rail and bus service yards where they are deep cleaned before returning to service the following morning.

DART has more than 250 employees, including staff and contractors, who work on maintenance of hundreds of locations that are cleaned at least three times per day, daily.

They're also quick to remove graffiti, ideally within a 2-hour window, says DART Assistant VP Gustavo Espinoza in a statement.

"Many people would be surprised to find out the effort and staffing that is required to maintain a system as large as ours," Espinoza says.

The Live Green, Ride Clean program is part of a strategic plan formulated in June 2024. organized around six goals so that employees, customers, cities, and stakeholders understand why DART plans to do things and what DART plans to do. What makes that kooky DART tick?

The first two goals, Empowered Agency and Culture of Contribution, are internally focused on the agency and its employees.

The second set of goals, Quality Service and Seamless Mobility, are customer-focused.

The final two goals, Fantastic Spaces and Strategic Relationships, are focused on community- and relationship-building.

Their org chart doesn't come out and say exactly where Live Green, Ride Clean falls. It definitely sounds like it would fit under "Quality Service." Maybe also "Seamless Mobility"? Since both of those are customer-focused? Or should it fall under "Fantastic Spaces"? Since Fantastic Spaces would surely be clean spaces.

In a statement, DART Senior Executive VP & COO Bernard Jackson straightens it all out — explaining which categories the Live Green, Ride Clean initiative can be filed under.

“This effort relates to many of the pillars of our Point B Strategic Plan, especially Quality Service and Culture of Contribution, [italics added]," Jackson says.