The City of Dallas is seeking public input on the long-debated transition to curbside pickup with a survey.
Photo by Carol Toler.
Dallas’ sanitation department originally planned to move 26,000 residential customers currently receiving alley pickup to curbside service over two phases beginning in January 2026. After significant resident outcry, the initiative was paused for a second year in a row as City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert told the Dallas Morning News in early October the City would survey affected residents starting later that month to evaluate demand for continued alley service.
Resident feedback was gathered on the first round of questions in October to refine the survey, Sanitation Director Cliff Gillespie told Council members at a Monday meeting of the quality of life committee.
Starting this week, the City will send the surveys to residents living in areas with alleys 9 feet wide or less. The survey consists of several questions asking about customers’ current alleyway conditions, preference for alley pickup and openness to a rate increase  in case of continued pickup. Responses are open only to residents living at potentially affected addresses, a map of which can be found on the sanitation department’s website.
“Our goal is to use the information to identify feasible solutions that may allow alley collection to continue in areas where both operationally possible and strongly preferred by the residents,” Gillespie said at the Monday meeting.
As the City explores new options for the transition, including the potential continuation of service in certain areas with higher collection fees, the scope of the evaluation has been expanded to include all 44,000 residents receiving alley pickup in areas where alleys are 9 feet wide or narrower. Of the 44,000, only homes in areas with unpaved or dead-end alleys, or where the majority of homes have front driveways, had been initially included in the transition to curbside service.
A memo from Gillespie states that the scale was widened to avoid areas with mostly similar alleyway conditions paying dissimilar rates. It is unclear how much of a cost increase customers receiving continued alley service would see under the plan, although the survey asks respondents how much more they would be willing to pay monthly, with the most substantial option included being a monthly increase of $20 or higher.
95,000 households currently utilize alley garbage pickup in the City of Dallas. The majority of affected households in Lake Highlands are located in the L Streets, where alleys consistently fall within the 8-9 feet range, in addition to isolated blocks in Highland Meadows and north of Walnut Hill Lane.
The survey will be open to the public through January, when the City Council will be briefed on the plan, as reported by the Dallas Morning News.
If not enough interest in continued alley service is recorded, officials will go forward with the original plan outlined over the summer. However, if residents express a desire for the city to explore alternative service systems, staff will brief Council members on potential rate increases.
“We do expect to evaluate all potential operational models, including the possibility of private providers, if that could help sustain safe and reliable service,” Gillespie said at the meeting.
