How to Ride Metro Free to Vote on Election Day, Nov. 3

Buses and trains won't collect fares, Bike Share takes code 110326, and county ballot boxes sit near 12 stations.

You're wondering whether the bus to your vote center costs anything on Nov. 3. It doesn't. Metro won't collect fares on its buses and trains on Election Day, and it's adding a free Bike Share ride and free Metro Micro trips, the agency said Wednesday on The Source, its news blog.

The bigger help in Metro's post starts sooner. Official county ballot drop boxes sit near 12 Metro stations, and they're already taking ballots: the L.A. County registrar says its boxes open 29 days before Election Day, which was Oct. 5, and close at 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. The free ride lasts one day. The boxes are open for weeks.

To ride free on Election Day:

1. Bus or train. Board the way you always do. Metro says no fares will be taken that day.
2. Metro Bike Share. Pick the "1-Ride" option on the app, the website or a station kiosk, then enter the code 110326 at checkout. That's the date, 11/03/26. You'll need a credit or debit card, and the free ride covers 30 minutes; Metro says anything longer costs extra.
3. Metro Micro. Book through the Micro app, free on the App Store and Google Play. Metro says there's no code to enter.

To drop a mail ballot on your way through, Metro lists boxes near these stations and transit centers:

• Canoga (G Line busway)
• El Monte Transit Center (J Line busway)
• Harbor Freeway (C Line, J Line busway)
• Harbor Gateway Transit Center (J Line busway)
• Hollywood/Western (B Line)
• North Hollywood (B Line, G Line busway)
• Norwalk (C Line)
• Pomona North (A Line)
• Union Station (A, B and D Lines, J Line busway)
• Westlake/MacArthur Park (B and D Lines)
• Wilshire/La Cienega (D Line)
• Wilshire/Vermont (B and D Lines)

Those 12 are a small slice of the county's 400-plus boxes. The registrar's drop box map shows all of them, and Metro says others sit near its stations and bus stops, too.

The step the county keeps flagging is your signature. Seal the marked ballot inside the Official Return Envelope, then sign and date the back before it goes in any box, the registrar's checklist says. The county's Oct. 1 announcement that ballots were going out put that reminder in bold.

The clock, if you'd rather not wait. "This is a long ballot," Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan said in that announcement, urging voters to send theirs back early so more can make the election-night count. The dates, from the registrar's election page and the county's announcement:

• Oct. 19: last day to register and still get a ballot in the mail.
• Oct. 24: vote centers open, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through Nov. 2. They'll take a finished mail ballot, too.
• Oct. 27: last day to request a replacement ballot. It's also the county's suggested cutoff for mailing yours back, since it asks for at least seven days before Election Day. Return postage is free.
• Nov. 3: vote centers run 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and every drop box shuts at 8 p.m. Show up at 8:05 and the box is closed.

Then make sure it landed. The free Where's My Ballot? tracker the county points voters to sends a text, email or voicemail as your ballot moves along.

Source: thesource.metro.net, retrieved October 8, 2026. Other sources: lavote.gov, Los Angeles County, lavote.gov (2).