DALLAS

Like many other major cities in the United States, the automobile is the primary mode of local transportation, though efforts have been made to increase the availability of alternative modes of transportation, including the construction of light rail lines, biking and walking paths, wide sidewalks, a trolley system, and buses. Walk Score ranked Dallas the twenty-third most walkable of fifty largest cities in the United States in 2011.

In 2009, 78.5% of Dallas (city) commuters drive to work alone. The 2009 mode share for Dallas (city) commuters are 10.7% for carpooling, 3.9% for transit, 1.9% for walking, and .1% for cycling. In 2015, the American Community Survey estimated modal shares for Dallas (city) commuters of 75.4% for driving alone, 12.8% for carpooling, 3.5% for riding transit, 1.9% for walking, and .2% for cycling.

The city of Dallas has a higher than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 10.2 percent of Dallas households lacked a car, and decreased to 9.1 percent in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Dallas averaged 1.59 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.

Events

The State Fair of Texas has been held annually at Fair Park since 1886, and generates an estimated $50 million to the city's economy annually. The Red River Shootout, a football game that pits the University of Texas at Austin against the University of Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl, also brings significant crowds to the city. The city also hosts the State Fair Classic and Heart of Dallas Bowl at the Cotton Bowl.

Other festivals include several Cinco de Mayo celebrations hosted by the city's large Mexican American population and a Saint Patrick's Day parade along Lower Greenville Avenue, Juneteenth festivities, Taste of Dallas, the Deep Ellum Arts Festival, the Greek Food Festival of Dallas, the annual Halloween event "The Wake", and two annual events on Halloween, including a Halloween parade on Cedar Springs Road and a "Zombie Walk" held in Downtown Dallas in the Arts District.

With the opening of Victory Park, WFAA began hosting an annual New Year's Eve celebration in AT&T Plaza that the television station hoped would reminisce of celebrations in New York's Times Square; on New Year's Eve 2011 set a new record of 32,000 people in attendance.

After the discontinuance of the "Big D NYE" festivities a few years later, a new end-of-year event was started downtown, with a big fireworks show put on at Reunion Tower, which has since aired on KXAS and other TV stations around the state and region. Also, several Omni hotels in the Dallas area host large events to welcome in the new year, including murder mystery parties, rave-inspired events, and other events.