Sign Automatic Letter About Metro Ending Late Night Hours Here (Washington: home, taxi)

[MDAllstar]

Metro proposes ending late-night service PERMANENTLY. That's a terrible idea. - Greater Greater Washington

Sign at the bottom of the link.

[Eagle4Life]

To the extent that operating cost savings exceed lost fare revenue this is probably a good idea. It's most drunks and criminals out that late anyway. Get a taxi instead.

[Chris.A]

Perhaps have the bus system run 24 hours. The trains can close, but we need the buses.

[NOVAEER]

Can you imagine a real major city implementing something like this? How bush league.

[roninsedge]

You know what else is bush league? A subway system that isn't properly funded by the districts it serves and has been mismanaged for at least a decade. This is a tough decision to make and if WMATA wants the public behind it, they need to give us the reasoning behind this. PW was hired with a gargantuan task to accomplish and is making the tough decisions to get this system back up to snuff. Unfortunately, it seems as if we don't currently have a system capable of running late nights or even 24/7 due to prior mismanagement and neglect. We have had numerous fatalities on the rail system in the past few years and there is a lot of work to do in order to get it back up and running properly. Even if they say the change is permanent, it won't be. Public outcry for later hours will bring them back and hopefully the rail system will be able to handle it when they do bring it back. Right now they are fixing the problems. Hopefully once those problems are fixed they will have a good plan in place to keep up the proper maintenance.

[HokieFan]

Originally Posted by Eagle4Life

To the extent that operating cost savings exceed lost fare revenue this is probably a good idea. It's most drunks and criminals out that late anyway. Get a taxi instead.

Not true. People might work an evening/night shift. Or go to sporting events or concerts that run past 10pm. I've been to Nats games that run past 10pm - not a drunk nor a criminal.

[stateofnature]

Definitely not "mostly drunks and criminals." Mostly people coming back from social events (including people who have had a couple drinks but not necessarily "drunks) or people coming back from late night service industry jobs for whom taking a cab or paying for parking would take a big chunk out of their paycheck that night. And yes there are partiers, but also partiers who spend a lot of money at nightlife establishments but who are off the road thanks to Metro. Expect drunk driving incidents to skyrocket if the Metro closes early.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by stateofnature

Expect drunk driving incidents to skyrocket if the Metro closes early.

Did drunk driving incidents dramatically decline after 2009, the last time the Metro closed before midnight?

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by Eagle4Life

To the extent that operating cost savings exceed lost fare revenue this is probably a good idea. It's most drunks and criminals out that late anyway. Get a taxi instead.

A lot of people who make their living in the nightlife scene would feel this too. I have a few friends who are performers in the Baltimore area who are probably going to stick to Baltimore shows and not do as many or any DC shows because less people can afford an Uber/cab over Metro to get home therefore less attendance at the DC shows.

[Carlingtonian]

I don't even use the Metro these days, and I think this is a bad idea. As a temporary thing to fix the structural problems, sure. But permanently--that will indeed be a real problem for people who work nights and don't have parking or a car. (It will also probably mean a few more people driving around drunk, who either can't find a taxi/Uber or are too cheap to pay for one.)