Parker Road | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Parker Road station. Bus transfer center on the left; rail platforms on the right. | |||||||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||||||
| Location | 805 East Park Boulevard Plano, Texas | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 33°2′2″N96°42′3″W / 33.03389°N 96.70083°W /33.03389; -96.70083 | ||||||||||||||
| System | DART rail | ||||||||||||||
| Owned by | Dallas Area Rapid Transit | ||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 1island platform | ||||||||||||||
| Connections |  DART:234,236,247East Plano GoLink Zone (M-Sun),Far North Plano GoLink Zone (M-Sun),Legacy West GoLink Zone (M-Sun),North Central Plano/Chase Oaks GoLink Zone (M-Sun),South Central Plano GoLink Zone (M-Sun) | ||||||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||||||
| Parking | 2,020 spaces (some reserved)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Accessible | Yes | ||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||
| Opened | April 20, 1993[2] (bus) December 9, 2002[3] (rail) | ||||||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||||||
| FY24 | 2,018 (avg. weekday)[4]  4% | ||||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||||
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Parker Road station (formerlyEast Plano Transit Center) is anintermodal transit facility inPlano, Texas. The station is located nearNorth Central Expressway (US 75) between Parker Road and Park Boulevard. Operated byDallas Area Rapid Transit, the station servicesDART rail, three bus routes, and fiveon-demand service zones.
The station is the northern terminus of theRed Line.[1] It is also the northern terminus of theOrange Line during weekday peak hours.[5]
As of May 2025[update], the station has the highest weekday ridership of all Red Line stations outside ofDowntown Dallas, with an average of 2,018 riders on weekdays.[4]
The first DART facility in Plano was the Plano Transit Center, a smallpark-and-ride lot located at a formerdrive-in theater. The facility was very rudimentary, lacking passenger shelters or benches.[6]
In early 1989, DART opened theWest Plano Transit Center four miles west of Plano Transit Center.[7] When this did not substantially decrease ridership at the lot, DART opted to build an expanded east Plano facility.[8]
In 1990, DART purchased 19.2 acres of land for the new East Plano Transit Center. The land was adjacent to a disusedSouthern Pacific rail corridor that DART was studying for a then-proposed light rail system.[9] The transit center, built at a $7.5 million cost, opened on April 20, 1993.[2]
On December 7, 2002, to celebrate the coming train service, DART and the city of Plano offered free preview rides fromBush Turnpike to East Plano Transit Center. The event also celebrated the 100th anniversary of theTexas Electric Railway, which operated on the same right-of-way from 1902 to 1948.[10]
The Red Line was officially extended to East Plano Transit Center on December 9, 2002 as part of the line's fourth and final extension.[3] Following the extension, the station was renamed to Parker Road.
On April 2, 2012, DART began a pilot program known as "Fair Share Parking". The program, operated by a private contractor, required commuters from non-DART member cities to pay a daily fee for parking at the station. Residents of DART member cities could park for free as long as they applied for and displayed a special resident permit. Parker Road was one of two stations to be included in the program at launch, the other beingNorth Carrollton/Frankford. The program was intended to improve parking availability and to make up for the lack of sales tax revenue from non-residents.[11] However, most commuters at Parker Road simply switched to parking atBush Turnpike station, which regularly approached capacity in the months following the change.[12]
After the initiative failed to make a profit, DART opted to end it on April 2, 2014 when its contract with the private operator expired.[13] While most stations simply dropped the initiative altogether, Parker Road continued to utilize the resident permits by reserving lots at the station for permit holders.[14][15]
