Cities offer free Election Day transit rides

Voters in Minnesota and parts of Texas and Florida will get a free ride to the polls if they choose to take public transportation. 

Minneapolis’s Metro Transit agency, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and Tampa’s Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) are all offering free rides on Election Day. 

Minneapolis’s transit agency is eliminating fares for all riders on Tuesday under a new state law that was approved by the state’s legislature earlier this year. 

{mosads}Officials with the agency said it and other suburban transit providers “will provide free rides on all fixed-route service on Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 4).

“Free rides will be offered from the beginning to the end of the service day on all buses, METRO lines and Northstar to help you get to your polling place. You do not need to show a pass in order to ride,” the agency said.  

Dallas officials are limiting the free rides to passengers who are registered to vote. 

“Passengers displaying a valid registration card can ride DART free from the hours of 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day,” DART said on its website Tuesday morning. 

Tampa’s HART is similarly requiring passengers to be registered voters to ride free to the polls on Tuesday.

“Ride HART for FREE with a valid voter registration card,” the Tampa area transit agency said on its website. “Riders are encouraged to determine in advance which routes will get them to, or close to, their polling places.”