DART to offer free rides to passengers who board with a bike

May is National Bike Month, and Des Moines Area Regional Transit (DART) is celebrating by offering free rides to anyone who boards with a bike May 1-31, 2019. The free rides are valid on Local, Express, Flex and On Call services. After loading a bike, riders simply board the bus and find a seat without needing to pay a fare.

“National Bike Month is a great time to try biking and riding DART,” said DART Marketing and Communications Manager Erin Hockman. “We encourage residents in greater Des Moines to bike to work, school or any destination during National Bike Month. Using DART bike racks can extend or speed up your bike trip.”

Loading or unloading a bike on DART’s bike racks takes less than 20 seconds. Riders with bikes should signal to the bus operator before boarding with a bike and remind the operator when exiting through the front door of the bus that they need to unload their bike from the rack.

Additional DART resources for bicyclists:

• Secure Bike Storage is available at DART Central Station. An indoor bicycle storage room and changing room are available for a $50 annual fee plus a $50 one-time deposit.
• The MyDART App allows people to plan a Bike & Ride trip using their smartphone and is available on iOS (Apple) and Android devices. The app includes trip planning tools as well as the ability to purchase bus passes.

DART provided more than 8,000 Bike & Ride trips in May 2018 and a total of 57,509 Bike & Ride trips during fiscal year 2018.

National Bike Month is hosted locally by the Des Moines Street Collective. Additional activities to participate in Bike month and multimodal transit can be found on their event calendar.

For more information about Biking & Riding or other DART services, please contact Customer Service at

515-283-8100 or dart@ridedart.com.

The Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority (DART) is the public transportation provider in and around Polk County. DART operates a family of transportation services that connects thousands of people every day to jobs, school, medical appointments, entertainment and more. For more information about DART services, schedules, route changes, or directions to the nearest DART stop, visit the website at ridedart.com or call 515-283-8100.