free rides

On Tuesday, November 3, the Greater Dayton RTA will provide free rides system-wide to ensure access for everyone who chooses to exercise their right to vote in the national election. These free rides apply to both RTA’s fixed-route and paratransit services.

The RTA understands the necessity for reliable transportation to fulfill this constitutional right. Along with providing thousands of riders with daily transportation to work, medical appointments, and activities, this Election Day program ensures the polls remain accessible for all. The RTA has been providing free rides for all elections since 2018, and extended this program to include early voting in 2020 in order to alleviate concerns about voting during the international COVID-19 pandemic. Early voting rides were made available in partnership with the Dayton Unit NAACP, League of Women Voters of the Greater Dayton Area, and East End Community Services.

Riders are encouraged to use the Transit app, RTA’s official real-time information and trip-planning mobile application, to find the bus stop closest to their polling place. The app is free to download and available to both Android and Apple users. More information about the app can be found on our website here: iriderta.org/ridetime/track-by-app.

Those needing to find their polling location can use the Montgomery County Board of Election’s website at https://lookup.boe.ohio.gov/vtrapp/montgomery/pollfinder.aspx

 

The Greater Dayton RTA is offering a Valentine’s Day gift to its customers who use the Transit app – free rides on Tuesday, February 14 if you show the app to your driver.

Any rider who has Transit app open on their smart phone and presents it to the driver while boarding on Valentine’s Day can ride all day at no charge. This free ride day is the result of more than 1,000 customers downloading Transit app during an RTA promotion before the New Year. The app now has more than 2,200 downloads in Dayton.

Transit app was included as part of RTA’s RideTime real-time bus tracking technology rollout in December 2016. It works on any Apple or Android smartphone and is free to download in the App Store or via Google Play when users look for this logo:

Transit app uses RTA’s real-time GPS technology to enable users to track their bus, send alerts for when the bus is approaching a stop or nearing their destination, or plan a trip.

Riders who haven’t yet downloaded Transit app are encouraged to try it out and enjoy a free ride on Valentine’s Day. RTA staff hope customers will love Transit just as much as they do.

How-to guides, videos and links for how to use Transit app along with RideTime phone, text and computer-tracking features each are available at iriderta.org/ridetime. Information can also be found on the agency’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

RTA is Ohio’s greenest fleet, and serves 3,300 stops on 31 routes throughout Montgomery and parts of Greene County. The agency operates diesel, hybrid diesel, and electric trolley buses that take people to work, school and shopping. Customers ride RTA on more than 9 million passenger trips each year.