I could be just missing something in this DMN article, but what exactly does DART have to offer private investors in some type of public-private rail development solution to bail itself out of its pending financial woes? Typically, DART doesn’t condemn and/or own the "transit-oriented development" land near the stations; that’s where the real money is being made. Instead, DART acquires property to build its lines, maintains the rail cars and transit staff, builds the parking lots, etc. — and none of that is profitable in the way that a normal business makes money. Instead, to the extent DART is profitable at all, it’s only because of how the tax-generated investment money that has been poured into the system over the years kind of counted as a sunk cost that doesn’t have to generate a return.
Now, don’t get me wrong on this: I’m not against a DART-private developer partnership. I just don’t think the cash flow from DART ridership, even with expanded routes, is going to be enough to generate the 10-20% returns that individual investors will need to ante up the money. Unless, of course, the investors can get DART to pledge future tax revenues from us to guarantee the investors’ returns, which would be heading down a horribly slippery slope…
