Posted on September, 18 2017
DART is undergoing a service change on Sunday, October 1, 2017. Several DART routes and services will be impacted. You can jump ahead to information on the specific routes or services that are changing by clicking on the links below.
- Local Route 17 – Hubbell Avenue/Altoona
- Local Route 7 – SW 9th Street
- Local Route 5 – Franklin Avenue
- Express Route 91 – Merle Hay Road
- Express Route 98 – Ankeny
- The Link Shuttle
- The D-Line Shuttle
- MyDART Text
Local Route 17 – Hubbell Avenue/Altoona - (view schedule)
Trips to Altoona via Local Route 17 will begin running to The Outlets of Des Moines on Bass Pro Drive. This extension will cause the following changes:
- Weekday service to Altoona and The Outlets will run every 30 minutes from 6 a.m. – 6:45 p.m. From 6:45 p.m. – 11 p.m. service will run every hour. Service between DART Central Station and E. 29th & Euclid will continue to run every 15 minutes during both morning and evening rush hours.
- Weekend frequency will increase to 45-minute service in northeast Des Moines, Altoona and to the Outlets. This will add 4 eastbound (outbound) and 4 westbound (inbound) trips on Saturdays and 1 eastbound (outbound) and 2 westbound (inbound) trips on Sundays.
- Four bus stops will be added to serve the Altoona Walmart and The Outlets.
- Outbound/Northbound trips will stop on 36th Ave SW near the northwest corner of Walmart (Bus Stop ID #4053)
- The Outlets of Des Moines pull-in stop (Bus Stop ID #4052)
- Inbound/Southbound trips will stop on 36th Ave SW across from Walmart (Bus Stop ID #4054)
- Inbound/Southbound trips will stop on 36th Ave SW near 8th Street SW (Bus Stop ID #4055)
- Route 17 will no longer pull into the Walmart parking lot. These stops will be replaced with Bus Stops 4053, 4054 and 4055.
- Route 99 – Altoona Express trips will continue to pull in to the Walmart parking lot and serve the Park & Ride stop (Bus Stop ID # 3504).
- Route 17 and Local Route 7 – SW 9th Street (view schedule) will operate using separate buses. Route 17 will no longer become Route 7 at DART Central Station and Route 7 will no longer become Route 17.
Local Route 5 – Franklin Avenue - (view schedule)
Local Route 5 will extend north on Merle Hay Road to Johnston City Hall and the Johnston Public Library. This will provide all-day, local, weekday service to Johnston residents from 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. This extension will cause the following changes:
- Weekday rush hour service will run every 30 minutes.
- Midday and night service frequency will increase to every 45 minutes. This will add 3 northbound (outbound) and 4 southbound (inbound) weekday trips.
- Route 5 will travel north on Merle Hay Road to Morningside Drive (westbound), Northglenn Drive (eastbound) and Merle Hay Road (southbound).
- Route 5 will continue to pull into Haymarket Mall on both outbound and inbound trips.
- Route 5 will pull into Johnston City Hall on all southbound (inbound) trips (Bus Stop ID #3638).
- The following bus stops will be added to Local Route 5:
- Merle Hay Road & Aurora Ave (northbound/outbound ID 2028, southbound/inbound ID 3652)
- Merle Hay Road & NW Johnston Drive (northbound/outbound ID 4034, southbound/inbound ID 4035)
- Merle Hay Road & Pioneer Parkway (northbound/outbound ID 4036, southbound/inbound ID 4037)
- Merle Hay Road & near Hy-Vee (northbound/outbound ID 4038, southbound/inbound ID 4039)
- Merle Hay Road & S. Winwood Drive (northbound/outbound ID 4040, southbound/inbound ID 4041)
- Merle Hay Road & NW 62nd Ave (northbound/outbound ID 4042)
- Merle Hay Road & Cornerstone Commons (northbound/outbound ID 4043)
- Merle Hay Road & Cadence Apartments (southbound/inbound ID 4044)
- Morningside Drive & Lewis Carroll Court (westbound ID 4045)
- Morningside Drive & Mark Twain Court (westbound ID 4046)
- Morningside Drive & Henry James Court (westbound ID 4047)
- Northglenn Drive & Johnston Commons (eastbound ID 4048)
- Northglenn Drive & Hemingway Street (eastbound ID 4049)
- Northglenn Drive & Johnston Public Library (eastbound ID 4050)
- Northglenn Drive & Merle Hay Road (eastbound ID 4051)
Express Route 91 – Merle Hay Road
This route will be discontinued and replaced by the extension on Local Route 5 – Franklin Avenue. DART buses will no longer travel on Pioneer Parkway. Stops on Pioneer Parkway and on Merle Hay Road south of Cummins Parkway will be removed. Route 5 will no longer travel to bus stops on University Avenue between Merle Hay Road and 56th Street, but Local Route 3 will continue to service these stops.
Express Route 98 – Ankeny - (view schedule)
The Ankeny Express will return to Oralabor Road pending the end of road construction. The temporary stops on Delaware Avenue at SE Lorenz Drive (Bus Stop ID #4020 and 4021) will be removed. The stops on Oralabor Raod at Delaware Avenue near Casey’s General Store and Walgreens will be added back (westbound/outbound Stop ID #3087 and eastbound/inbound Stop ID #3086). The end of this detour will cause minor time adjustments to this route. The route will also begin to travel to and from Lot L at the Ankeny DMACC Campus using DMACC Boulevard on all trips. This change will streamline trips to better serve Route 98 riders.
The detour on the downtown shuttle, The Link, will end and the route will return to 7th Street (southbound). The Link will now follow the following route from the Center Street Park & Ride:
- Center Street (westbound), 7th Street (southbound), Locust Street (eastbound), 5th Avenue (southbound), Mulberry Street (westbound), 8th Street (northbound), Park Street (eastbound) and 6th Avenue (northbound) to the Center Street Park & Ride.
Saturday service hours on the D-Line will continue to be extended to run from 7 a.m. - 5 p.m. through the end of the Downtown Farmers’ Market season. Beginning on Saturday, November 4, 2017, the D-Line will return to regular Saturday service hours from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
The number for the service that DART riders used to text to find the real-time bus information for specific DART bus stops is changing. After October 1, DART riders should text DART and their stop ID # (example: DART0000) to 515515. Stickers with the updated number will be placed on DART bus stops.
New schedules are available by selecting the links in the descpription of each route above. Printed schedules will be available at DART Central Station, and on DART buses, beginning Wednesday, September 27, 2017.
Any rider with questions regarding the October service change is encouraged to contact DART Customer Service by calling 515-283-8100 or by emailing dart@ridedart.com.