DART Bus Involved in Downtown Dallas Accident with Scooter Rider

A pedestrian was hospitalized Thursday afternoon after being struck by a DART bus in downtown Dallas, causing significant traffic disruptions. The incident occurred at the intersection of Commerce and St. Paul streets, prompting a large response from Dallas Fire-Rescue.

At 1:26 p.m., Dallas Fire-Rescue responded to a report of a pedestrian under a DART bus, according to a statement from the agency. The man sustained a non-life-threatening injury to his upper body and was transported to a local hospital for treatment.

Preliminary investigations by DART police indicate the pedestrian was riding a motorized scooter on the sidewalk when the bus made a turn onto St. Paul Street. “The person on the scooter stopped suddenly to avoid running into the bus and instead fell off the scooter and landed under the bus,” a DART police statement explained.

The scene was active for nearly an hour, with 15 Dallas Fire-Rescue units dispatched to the location. Police used a drone and measuring devices to document the accident site. Passengers who had disembarked from the involved bus gathered nearby, inquiring about alternative transportation.

The bus was removed from the scene at 2:20 p.m. After being secured by a DART tow truck. Orange paint marked the location on the concrete where the bus had been positioned.

This incident comes as the city of Dallas continues to adjust to the return of rentable electric scooters. The city soft-launched the return of scooters on May 24, with a full relaunch taking effect on May 31, after a ban that began in 2020 due to safety and oversight concerns. It was not immediately clear whether the scooter involved in Thursday’s accident was a rental scooter or privately owned.

Thursday’s incident is not the first involving scooters and DART transportation. Just last week, a scooter rider was hospitalized after being struck by a DART train on Olive Street. According to police, that rider was attempting to cross the tracks ahead of the train and sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

In a separate incident, DART service was temporarily impacted by an accident on Interstate 345 near South Good Latimer Expressway, resulting in a loss of power and halting train traffic in the central business district. Details of that accident were not immediately available.