US car-sharing and ride-hailing companies offer election day specials to help people vote

Thanks to a number of election day specials offered by the US' largest car-sharing and ride-hailing companies, voting in the US presidential election on Tuesday would be that much easier.

Zipcar would make all of its Bay Area vehicles - 900 of 1,100 - free for reservations from 6 pm to 10 Kate Binette, a spokeswoman for the Boston-based car-share company announced. 

Though polls in California close at 8 pm, the promotion was aimed at targeting the last few hours in particular, especially for those who might not have an easy way to reach their polling place. 

''Regardless of political affiliation or sentiment, we believe that voting is a civic duty, and we want to ensure that access to transportation isn't a barrier to casting a ballot,'' said Andrew Daley, Zipcar's vice president of marketing, in a statement.

The app that brought ride-hailing into the mainstream, Uber, had teamed up with Google to launch a special in-app feature that allowed users to locate their polling location, then request a ride with a tap of a button. 

San Francisco-based Uber would also offer $20 off on one ride on Tuesday to new users with the code ''VOTETODAY.'' 

Bike sharing services have also offered free rides and car sharing sites were offering discounted rides.

In Denver and Boulder, B-cycle daily membership fees would be waived and riders would still enter their credit card information, but would not be charged for rides of 30 minutes or less.

Meanwhile, the ride sharing service Lyft would offer a 45 per cent discount on one ride on Tuesday between 7 am and 8 pm in Denver.

All Denver Lyft users would be able to access the promotion through the Deal of the Week email they receive.