5 Key Insights on Designing a Transit Network

Throughout 2025, DART is working with transportation consultants Jarrett Walker & Associates (JWA) and Transpo Group on Reimagine DART, a bold effort to redesign our transit network to meet the region’s needs for the future.  

DART staff, community leaders and elected officials from DART’s member communities met with the consultants in January to learn about the choices we face when designing a new transit network within a fixed budget.

Also in January, DART staff and city and transportation planners collaborated with our consultants to draw two contrasting network concept maps that illustrate those choices.

What We Learned 

Here are 5 key takeaways from the first phase of this network redesign process: 

1. There is no "right way" to design a transit system. 

Civic and community leaders had an opportunity to design a transit system in a fictional city. Without knowing anything about the residents that live there, leaders worked in small groups to propose bus routes that would connect people to jobs, medical facilities and shopping centers – all within a fixed budget, of course! This exercise prompted thoughtful conversation about the unavoidable choices and tradeoffs a transit agency must make when deciding how to best serve a community.  

No two fictional transit systems were alike, reinforcing there are multiple ways of using resources to deliver services. 

2. How a city is designed impacts where transit can be successful.

A community’s development patterns impact how a public transit network is designed. In most cases, people find transit to be more useful in dense areas that are walkable. If it is hard to walk from the bus stop to the destinations around it, people are less likely to use the service. Transit systems further maximize efficiency when a bus route can travel a direct path over a short distance. 

These factors will be considered when designing DART’s transit network, as we think about how to use the resources we have to maximize service in a region that continues to grow farther from the downtown core.  

Since DART was formed in 2006, Greater Des Moines’ population has grown by more than 20%, while DART services have increased by just 1%. 

3. Transit service is most productive and attracts high ridership when designed for multiple people to get to multiple places. 

One goal for public transit could be ensuring many people use the service.  

A network emphasizing high ridership usually has a handful of very frequent routes that offer all-day, all-week service. This type of transit network serves only the densest areas of the region but has been proven to attract more riders because the bus is coming more often. A network designed for high ridership usually leads to higher productivity, because attracting more riders to the service lowers the overall cost per ride, allowing the transit agency to serve more people for the same amount of money. 

Photo Caption: A network designed for ridership usually has frequent routes serving only the busiest corridors.

As we connect more people to more places, we increase their access to opportunities, making public transit more useful and productive.

4. Ridership may not be the primary goal. We could prioritize coverage instead.

Designing a system to attract high ridership is just one possible goal for public transit. Another goal could be ensuring everyone has some access. This means spreading out service so that most residents are within ¼ mile of the transit network.  

A network focused more on coverage usually has numerous infrequent routes and microtransit options. Although service is spread out to cover a wider area, fewer people tend to ride public transit because the service does not operate as often. However, most people have the ability to use public transit because it is nearby. 

Photo Caption: A network designed for coverage usually has infrequent routes and services that provide some access to most people in the region.

The same dollars cannot be used to achieve both high ridership and more coverage. 

Since there is no one “right way” to design a transit system, it is important that the community decides what we prioritize. Elected leaders will need to determine how much of DART’s budget should be allocated to each goal. 

Learn more about planning transit for ridership vs. coverage here.

5. Designing a transit system within a fixed budget is hard. 

About halfway through creating the first network concept, the team working with our consultants realized they had already reached the total amount of service DART could provide within its budget. It quickly became clear that even in a reimagined network, DART does not have the resources to serve new developments in the outer lying areas of our region.  

The team had robust discussions about where transit could be most successful, while considering factors like the frequency and span of DART services, the coverage of service in each member community and the types of service DART could provide.

Choices and Concepts 

Learn more about Reimagine DART and the choices we will need to consider by reviewing our consultants' complete 'Concepts and Choices' report here.

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