Trinity Metro will offer free rides to the polls for the March 5 primary election after Tarrant County leaders rejected a plan to fund the program.
Tarrant County Commissioners voted 3-2 against funding the free rides for voters program on Wednesday, which would have applied to this year's primary and runoff elections.
“We are offering free rides to remove any transportation barrier that would prevent anyone in our community from voting,” Trinity Metro President and CEO Richard Andreski wrote in a statement. “The ability to vote is one of our core rights, so we want to do our part to help residents exercise that right.”
Free rides will be available March 5 for Trinity Metro buses, ZIPZONE on-demand rideshare services, ACCESS paratransit, TEXRail and Trinity Railway Express stations in Tarrant County.
To qualify for a free ride, voters should notify their driver or train conductor that they are traveling to or from a polling location, according to a Trinity Metro news release.
During Wednesday's Commissioners Court meeting, County Judge Tim O'Hare spoke out against footing the bill to bring voters to the polls.
"I don't believe it's the county government's responsibility to try to get more people out to the polls," he said. "It's the responsibility of candidates, it's the responsibility of political parties, it's the responsibility of political groups."
Registering voters, conducting elections, and increasing public confidence in the electoral process is the mission of the county during election season, according to its website.
Both O'Hare and Commissioner Manny Ramirez said the free ride program benefited a small section of the county. But Ramirez did suggest Trinity Metro could pay for the program itself.
"If Trinity Metro wants to provide it to their existing customers, then they are free to do that," he said after Wednesday's meeting.
Democratic commissioners Roy Brooks and Alisa Simmons opposed the program's removal.
Following Trinity Metro's announcement, Brooks issued a statement in agreement with the decision.
“Congratulation[s] to Trinity Metro for being an organization that makes public policy based upon logic and compassion," Brooks said in the statement.
O'Hare did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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