The following excerpt appeared in the Los Angeles Times on October 25, 2018. To read the full article, click here.
NOTE: For questions about L.A. Metro rail and bus service, visit www.metro.net or call (323) GO-METRO.
L.A. Metro will offer free rides on buses and trains on election day – Los Angeles Times
By Laura J. Nelson
October 25, 2018
[Excerpt]:
In an effort to boost Los Angeles County’s historically poor voter turnout, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials agreed Thursday to offer free fares on the sprawling bus and rail system on election day.
On Nov. 6, rides on Metro’s six rail lines and 2,200 buses will be free from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. Eliminating the $1.75 fare for a day will cost the agency an estimated $600,000, officials said.
During the midterm election four years ago, Los Angeles County’s voter turnout rate was 31%, the lowest in California.
“We know there are so many impediments to folks voting,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, one of the authors of the motion, said at Metro’s Thursday meeting. “We know how critical voting is, and what an important election we have that’s coming up.”
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology survey of 10,200 voters in the 50 states and Washington, D.C., found that access to transportation was one reason that 31% of registered voters did not go to the polls in 2016. In California, the figure was higher, at 51%.
To read the full article, click here.