The Plano City Council unanimously approved a plan to transform the areas around its new Silver Line stations into walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods. That was January 2025.
By November 2025, the same city was scheduling a vote to leave DART entirely.
This is either a city that doesn't know what it wants, or a city playing a very specific game. Either way, if you're thinking about buying in Plano—especially near transit—you should understand what's happening.
The Situation
On May 2, 2026, Plano residents will vote on whether to withdraw from the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system. If the vote passes, all DART services in Plano would cease immediately. Buses. Rail. GoLink. Everything.
The Silver Line—a $1.8 billion, 26-mile commuter rail connecting Plano to DFW Airport—just opened. Plano has three stations on the line: 12th Street, Shiloh Road, and Parker Road. The city spent years planning development around these stations. Mixed-use neighborhoods. Tech hubs. Walkable retail.
And now they might leave.
The obvious question is: why?
The Math
Here's what prompted this: In 2023, Plano contributed $109.6 million in sales tax to DART. The city received $44.6 million in services. That's a $65 million gap—every year.
From Plano's perspective, they're subsidizing DART service elsewhere. From DART's perspective, that's how regional transit works. Wealthy suburbs help fund a system that serves the entire region, including less affluent areas.
Both perspectives are valid. The question is which one Plano voters find more compelling.
(For what it's worth, Highland Park's gap is even more dramatic: $6.3 million contributed, $1.9 million in services received. But Highland Park is tiny. Plano is DART's largest suburban contributor.)
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Take the quizWhat Happens If They Leave
Let me be specific about what "leaving DART" actually means, because there's a lot of confusion here.
Day one after a successful vote:
- •All DART buses in Plano stop running
- •Silver Line trains either skip Plano stations entirely or run through without stopping
- •GoLink microtransit service ends
- •Paratransit for disabled residents ends
For years afterward:
- •Plano continues paying DART debt obligations for 7-10 years
- •The city is responsible for creating its own transit solution
- •Plano has allocated $4 million to explore alternatives, including a potential Collin County transit system
The services stop immediately. The payments don't.
The Bigger Picture
Plano isn't alone. On the same May 2026 ballot, three other cities are voting on DART withdrawal: Irving, Farmers Branch, and Highland Park.
If all four leave, DART loses more than $250 million annually—about 29% of its total revenue.
This matters even if you don't live in these cities. DART is a regional system. If a quarter of the revenue disappears, service cuts affect everyone. The system that connects Plano to Dallas, Richardson to the airport, suburban commuters to downtown jobs—that whole network becomes less viable.
Will they all leave? Historically, probably not. In DART's 42 years, there have been 15 withdrawal elections across eight cities. Only two succeeded: Coppell and Flower Mound, both in 1989.
But 1989 was before $4 gas, before remote work, before Texas suburbs became serious cities with serious traffic problems. The calculus might be different now.
The Station Area Problem
Here's the thing I keep coming back to.
Plano just approved the Silver Line Station Areas Plan. Unanimously. The plan transforms the 12th Street station area into a walkable extension of downtown Plano—higher-density residential, commercial development, a "Main Street feel" connecting to the historic core. The Shiloh Road station gets positioned as a tech and research hub, leveraging Plano's existing corridor of corporate campuses.
This is substantial planning. This is the city betting on transit-oriented development.
And then, months later, the same city schedules a vote to potentially strand those stations with no service.
I don't know how to square this. My best guess is that the vote is leverage—a negotiating tactic to get DART to offer Plano better terms. The city has been trying to negotiate enhanced service for six years. Maybe this forces DART's hand.
But leverage only works if you're willing to follow through. And following through means abandoning $1.8 billion worth of infrastructure that you just built development plans around.
What This Means If You're Buying in Plano
Let's get practical.
If you're looking near a Silver Line station:
The upside case is that the vote fails (or succeeds and gets reversed), DART service continues, and you benefit from the TOD development the city just approved. Properties near transit stations typically command premiums, and Plano's stations are well-positioned.
The downside case is that Plano actually leaves DART, the stations become dead zones, and the development plans get shelved. You're left with transit-adjacent property and no transit.
My read: The vote is more likely to fail than succeed, based on historical precedent. But "more likely" isn't "certain." If you're betting on transit access, you're betting on the vote outcome.
If you're looking elsewhere in Plano:
This matters less for day-to-day life but more for long-term city finances. If Plano leaves DART, they stop paying the 1% sales tax contribution but start paying for whatever transit alternative they create. The net financial impact is unclear.
What is clear: There will be years of uncertainty while the city figures out its post-DART transit strategy. That uncertainty affects everything from commute options to development patterns to property values near transit corridors.
If you're comparing Plano to other suburbs:
Richardson voted not to schedule a withdrawal election. They're staying with DART. The Silver Line serves Richardson too, with stations that will remain fully operational regardless of what Plano does.
If transit access matters to you and you want certainty, that's worth considering.
The Bottom Line
Plano is simultaneously planning for a transit-oriented future and voting on whether to have transit at all. That's a strange position for a city, and it creates real uncertainty for homebuyers.
My instinct is that this is political theater—leverage for better DART terms—and that the vote will ultimately fail. But I've been wrong before, and "instinct" isn't a good basis for a $500,000 purchase decision.
If you're buying near a Silver Line station, you should understand that you're making a bet on the outcome of a May 2026 election. If that uncertainty bothers you, there are other places in North Dallas with strong transit access and less political drama.
If you're buying in Plano generally, watch this space. The DART question will be resolved by mid-2026, and the answer will tell you a lot about what kind of city Plano wants to be.