| South Garland Transit Center | |
| Style: | Dallas Area Rapid Transit |
| Address: | 4051 Leon Rd. Garland, Texas 75041 |
| Other: | DART Routes,,,,,,,,,,, and |
| Parking: | 603 spaces[1] |
| Bicycle: | 1 bike locker |
| Opened: | [2] |
| Accessible: | Yes |
| Owned: | Dallas Area Rapid Transit |
South Garland Transit Center is a bus-only mass transit station in the Zacha Junction neighborhood of Garland, Texas. The station is located on a frontage road of Interstate 635 and is operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART). The station has eight bus bays and services twelve bus routes.[3] Routes at the station largely service Garland and East Dallas, with high-frequency connections to Downtown Dallas, Buckner station, and White Rock station.[4]
The transit center previously shared its parking lot with a Cinemark-branded discount theater, which was constructed alongside the station.[5] The theater closed in 2021.[6]
The area was originally serviced by South Garland Park & Ride, a park-and-ride lot located at the intersection of Northwest Highway and Jackson Drive, about a mile east of the current station. The lot was built in 1978 by the Dallas Transit System, DART's predecessor.[7] Ridership at the lot was very high; in 1989, a route between it and North Garland Transit Center became the first DART route outside of Dallas to carry over 1,000 passengers per day.[8]
In 1990, seeking to replace the lot, DART selected a 10-acre tract adjacent to Interstate 635 with plans to connect the site to proposed HOV lanes on I-635. When the landowner refused to sell, DART lobbied the city of Garland to obtain the land on its behalf through eminent domain. The move was controversial, as a less expensive site was available, though that site would not have enabled the HOV connection.
Construction of the transit center began in October 1992,[9] and the station opened on September 13, 1993.