Tarrant County wants you to vote so much they’ll pay to give you a ride to the polls
If you’re getting ready to vote, and need a ride, Tarrant County has you covered.
County Commissioners are footing the bill — which could be as much as $20,000 — to help Tarrant voters get to the polls during the early voting period and on the March 3 Primary Election Day.
Tarrant voters may cast ballots at any polling place in the county during early voting — which runs from Tuesday through Feb. 28 — or on Election Day, March 3.
The county contracted with six transit services to provide the free rides. They are: Trinity Metro’s fixed-route bus, ACCESS paratransit, Tarrant County Transportation Services (TCTS), Northeast Transportation Services (NETS), Arlington’s Via and Handitran.
Here’s how it works:
▪ If you’re catching a Trinity Metro bus, show a valid driver license or voter registration card and tell the driver you’re going to vote. You’ll get a free ride to the polling site and back to where you started.
▪ Anyone who qualifies for and wants to ride on ACCESS, TCTS, NETS or Handitran to vote should call that provider at least 48 hours ahead of when they’d like to go to schedule their free ride to one of the 47 early voting locations or one of the 192 Election Day polling sites.
▪ To use the Via on-demand service in Arlington, voters need to download the Via app, enter the address of a Vote Center and plug in the promo code ARLINGTONVOTE. Or call 817-794-7382 to schedule a ride. Voters won’t be charged for trips to or from a vote center.
This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
