Monday, December 6, 2010

DART promotes DFW DART Dude

Dude Does it the DART Way
(click here to read article at www.dart.org)



Kevin Sharpe – the self-styled "DFW DART Dude" – recently became a public transit superhero of sorts when his video testimonial extolling the virtues of riding won him a luxurious stay at the Hotel Palomar and dinner at Central 214.



Look! There on the train!

It's a businessman. It's a graduate student. It's that DART Dude!


Kevin Sharpe, a.k.a. DFW DART Dude, traveled to Europe with the money he saved taking public transit.


The getaway was a top prize in a contest sponsored by DART, the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T), and the Denton County Transportation Authority (DCTA). Shonna Walker, an avid rider of The T, won a luxury stay at Fort Worth's Worthington and dinner at Vidalia's, and DCTA commuter Aubra Thomas of Carrollton won a regional transit pass.

It was all part of Stop Talking Out of Your Tailpipe, a joint campaign aimed at curbing the excuses some people use for not taking transit. Commuters were invited to share their reasons for riding on the transit agencies' Facebook pages.

Sharpe's video – starring himself as DFW DART Dude reporting from several European locales – was an instant hit. Why Europe? Sharpe will tell you DART has saved him thousands every year, enough to pay for his overseas excursion last summer.

Back home in Big D, DFW DART Dude – by day disguised as the mild-mannered Newspaper in Education manager for The Dallas Morning News – continues the never-ending battle for car-free commuting, clean air and the DART way at dfwdartdude.blogspot.com.