Free Stuff

Dallas voters score all sorts of free rides to their polling locations

Houston Harris County voters voting booth

This can be you tomorrow.

Photo courtesy of ABC13

If you love freebies, and who doesn't, then voting day is the day for you, as numerous transportation agencies are offering free rides to voters.

What a brilliant way to shake apathetic and/or uncommitted voters out of their stupor. If you're a voter who is somehow not convinced that your vote makes a difference, perhaps you can be persuaded simply to satisfy your appetite for free stuff. Free stuff is a powerful motivator.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) continues what is a long-standing tradition by making it easier to get to the polls. DART is offering voters a free ride on Election Day, November 6.

To get your free ride, you need to be carrying a valid voter registration card. The free rides extend from 6 am-8 pm on Election Day.

Riders can ride DART bus, light rail, Paratransit, or Trinity Railway Express commuter rail between CentrePort/DFW Airport station and Union Station.

Lyft is giving 50 percent off or up to $5 off rides, and free rides to communities "that face significant obstacles to transportation." To get a discount, enter your zip code here.

Lime is giving free rides for up to 30 minutes on its bikes, e-bikes, and scooters. Enter code LIME2VOTE18.

Uber is offering $10 off a single ride to the polls on Election Day on the cheapest Uber option available (Express POOL, POOL or UberX, in that order). Enter promotional code VOTE2018.

Some of those riders will surely be employed by Alamo Drafthouse, which has canceled its first round of shows to allow all employees time to vote. No early matinees on Election Day for us.

Hopefully, your polling place will not be an obstacle course with intimidating constables and papered-over Democratic candidate signs like this location in Mesquite.

politics

E-Cigarette News

Dallas City Council places restrictions on vaping in public

Unsplash

Man vaping

Vaping will now be banned exactly like smoking, thanks to a new ordinance from the Dallas City Council.

At their December 11 meeting, the council passed an ordinance to ban vaping in all the same areas where smoking is not allowed. It'll go into effect on December 11, 2025 — giving everyone a year to get into compliance.

Proposed by City of Dallas Environmental Commission (EVC) and the Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability (OEQS), the ordinance amends the definition of “smoking” in the Dallas City Code to include the use of vaping devices.

The ordinance does not ban vaping — it only bans where you can vape: no vaping in all indoor and enclosed spaces; within 15 feet of building entrances; and on park property. The ordinance also bans marijuana smoking in those same places.

In addition, the amendment requires restaurants, hotels, fitness centers and other businesses to update their signage to clearly state that both smoking and electronic smoking devices are prohibited.

The ordinance already earned widespread support from health organizations such as the Dallas County Health and Human Services, the American Lung Association, and the American Heart Association. These organizations, along with the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Surgeon General, have all raised concerns about the health risks of direct and second-hand exposure to vaping aerosols, particularly for vulnerable populations such as children and older adults.

Dallas is not the first city to impose such a ban: San Antonio enacted a similar ban in October. Theirs goes into effect on January 1, 2025.

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