The service area is definitely fashionable! Nonetheless, I do wish that Waymo added Plano to their service area. Between Legacy West, Frisco/Stonebriar, Old Town Plano, Garland and Richardson, this, selfishly, would have been much more accessible for work commutes and, in my opinion, would have seen more ridership from travelers on business. Oh well; maybe soon!
(Somehow we lived in the DFW for five years and hardly spent time there (and not for a lack of trying!), and we went out A LOT. Then again, we were more brewery kind of people, and outside of the Fashion District, most of the breweries in town were (and are) all over the place. While we did live in the HEB, we were happy to drive wherever for a good time. We frequented Deep Ellum sometimes and Bishop Arts less frequently than that, but Dallas wasn't really a draw for us. This is very much unlike Houston, where pretty much everything is in the Inner Loop, and we found ourselves driving there every weekend when we lived in the deep suburbs during our first few years here.)
I definitely agree with your second paragraph. It's a real shame that Dallas has the most robust rail network in the South...and it serves basically no-one at the moment because of its bus network being the Achilles' Heel it is. Like, it's a real shame that the TRE (Trinity Railway Express; proper heavy commuter rail that runs on dedicated track) only services 5900 passengers/day and doesn't run on Sundays. (For contrast, the Long Island Rail Road in NYC services almost 330k riders/day.) Waymo will be a SUPER DUPER useful microtransit option to close the gap.
I'm originally from Houston, but have settled in Dallas for my career/mid-life. It's hard to compare the two cities they are so different. The vibrant urban core inner loop of Houston has no comparison here. I miss it the most, and try to recreate it by trying to keep within the 635 "loop". Plano and HEB areas I know well, but avoid. I tried Colleyville and didn't like the distance. I try to keep 90% within 15 minute radius. In Houston, even in the loop, you it could take you an hour to get from say the Heights to West U. [It's the food I miss the most, DFW is bland midwestern to my Houstonian tastebuds.]
It's my take, that it's largely due to traffic, and although people in DFW complain - traffic here has no comparison to Houston traffic. People "easily" commute 40-50 or more miles one way. It's part of the Plano problem, if you lived in Plano an commuted to Legacy West, you are likely in the minority. Most Plano workforce, likely does not work in Plano at all. It's why 75 and DNT get traffic. Most of Plano jobs, likely held by non-Plano residents. The same story plays out everywhere here. In Houston, when I lived there, if you lived in Katy you pretty much stayed in Katy. Maybe you'd jump over to the Woodlands, or Sugarland, or go towards inner Houston on a weekend. The people that commuted downtown for work, the often woke up and drove at 4-5AM to avoid the traffic (they've added new roads since I lived there, toll roads that make this easier). But still, if you're on the West or North side or even in the Loop - dipping down to Galveston can be a significant road trip even though it's just ~50 miles from downtown. We simply don't have that kind of traffic in DFW. The commutes are long because traffic is light enough that people choose to live/work great distances away - then they complain about their commute/traffic. This is also why any type of fixed public transit won't work here, I think it has to do a lot with how the roadways are laid out differently - whole other rabbit hole I could go on about that, but DFW actually does do traffic a bit better than Houston which effectively unlocks the entire DFW area for people to use just like how you explained in your brewery patron example. I can't imagine a brewery in Pearland gets many visitors from the Kingwood or Woodlands or even Katy.
The urban core of Dallas is a failed experiment in my opinion. It's referred to as the Central Business District. And so, almost by definition, it's just office spaces. Covid hit it hard and it's slowly turning/gaining residential which will eventually bring back some life there. The nightlife in Uptown is very personality driven, if you're a preppy/posh type person you probably love it. It sounds like that's just not your cup of tea.
(Somehow we lived in the DFW for five years and hardly spent time there (and not for a lack of trying!), and we went out A LOT. Then again, we were more brewery kind of people, and outside of the Fashion District, most of the breweries in town were (and are) all over the place. While we did live in the HEB, we were happy to drive wherever for a good time. We frequented Deep Ellum sometimes and Bishop Arts less frequently than that, but Dallas wasn't really a draw for us. This is very much unlike Houston, where pretty much everything is in the Inner Loop, and we found ourselves driving there every weekend when we lived in the deep suburbs during our first few years here.)
I definitely agree with your second paragraph. It's a real shame that Dallas has the most robust rail network in the South...and it serves basically no-one at the moment because of its bus network being the Achilles' Heel it is. Like, it's a real shame that the TRE (Trinity Railway Express; proper heavy commuter rail that runs on dedicated track) only services 5900 passengers/day and doesn't run on Sundays. (For contrast, the Long Island Rail Road in NYC services almost 330k riders/day.) Waymo will be a SUPER DUPER useful microtransit option to close the gap.