Any Garland DART commuters? (Plano, Richardson: house, school, living)

[walty_14]

After researching for a long time, my wife and I are strongly considering Murphy for our family of 4. I know a lot of commuters head over to Plano to commute in but I know traffic gets really bad in the area as a result. As an alternative, I'm considering driving down to the Garland DART line and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with that commute. Specifically I am wondering:

1. Is there adequate parking at the downtown Garland station? I know Plano's station fills up very quickly in the morning. What time do you generally have to be there to get a spot in Garland?

2. Is there anyone that lives in Murphy and takes the Garland DART? How is the drive down to the station?

I would really appreciate any experience on this as it will really help determine where we end up living. Thanks in advance!

[$DFW8$]

Originally Posted by walty_14

After researching for a long time, my wife and I are strongly considering Murphy for our family of 4. I know a lot of commuters head over to Plano to commute in but I know traffic gets really bad in the area as a result. As an alternative, I'm considering driving down to the Garland DART line and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with that commute. Specifically I am wondering:

1. Is there adequate parking at the downtown Garland station? I know Plano's station fills up very quickly in the morning. What time do you generally have to be there to get a spot in Garland?

2. Is there anyone that lives in Murphy and takes the Garland DART? How is the drive down to the station?

I would really appreciate any experience on this as it will really help determine where we end up living. Thanks in advance!

1. There is a good size parking area at the DART station in downtown Garland. There is actually 2 DART stations in Garland. There is the one in Downtown Garland and there is one right by Forest Lane & Jupiter Rd.

2. The drive from Murphy to Garland wouldn't take you more than 15-20 min.

[walty_14]

Thank you Longhorn. I am also wondering what the drive is like if I choose not to take the DART. Is there any real alternative to 75? I've looked at the maps and can't see a great option.

[momof2dfw]

I live in Garland up in Firewheel. You are going to most likely use the downtown Garland station over the Forest Lane station. I go pretty close past the downtown DART station between the our office and house. It takes me 10 minutes in NO TRAFFIC. In traffic, my husband can make it home in 15 minutes. Taking the backroads from my house to Murphy (Brand Rd) takes about 10 minutes. A few stop signs and that is about it. That is NOT in rush hour traffic. Your going to basically to past my house if you take Brand or N. Garland Ave (aka Northstar in Murphy and Richardson) to get to the DART station in downtown Garland. Overall, without stopping by my hood to visit in rush hour traffic to get from Murphy to the downtown Garland DART station your looking at 20-30 minutes. It is going to depend on traffic, how many lights you get stopped at, school zones, how many cars are in front of you to get out of your hood, etc.

[MurphyPl1]

I made the drive from Murphy daily for 2 years to downtown Garland just blocks from the DART station. 20-25 minutes most days. Less if I went in a little later. There's usually plenty of parking. It's a bus stop as well, so lots of people take the bus over and then the train downtown.

75 is the main route to downtown if you opt not to do DART. And yes, there's traffic. But it's a heck of a lot better than 35. When they expanded 75 years ago, we commented on the fact that the upgrades would probably be obsolete within months. But they opened the DART rail around the same time and that's kept it from becoming the parking lot that it used to be.