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Metro Proposes New Closing Time


ktmoomau

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http://www.nbcwashington.com/around-town/food-drink/Metro_s_Earlier_Closing_Time_Could_Hit_Adams_Morgan_Hard-90200032.html

Metro is considering cutting weekend service at 12 midnight. I think this is bad for a myriad of reasons. Higher drunk driving rates, more cab fares and less going out in DC. And more people trying to park in the city.

There are some nights I don't come home from dinner until after 12, let alone drinking. This would be a real blow. I know there are not a ton of riders at that time, but it serves a great need. And I do think it would really impact businesses in DC. I love being able to metro from Arlington into DC and it be so easy, it would definitely make me venture into the city for nights out less. And I don't particularly want to do that.

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Metro is considering cutting weekend service at 12 midnight. I think this is bad for a myriad of reasons. Higher drunk driving rates, more cab fares and less going out in DC. And more people trying to park in the city.

Tack on screwing over everybody who works in food service and relies on public transportation to get home after work. This is crazy. If anything, Metro should be increasing its hours.

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Note that, even when those 1am trains are packed because they're only running every 20 minutes, they lose money every time the train runs.

I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, for all the reasons listed, but they have to cut operating costs, so they'll have to consider this, among other ideas.

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Note that, even when those 1am trains are packed because they're only running every 20 minutes, they lose money every time the train runs.

I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, for all the reasons listed, but they have to cut operating costs, so they'll have to consider this, among other ideas.

I understand this... but it is the overall impact on the city that I worry about. I would pay a much higher fare to ride at that time (although this might not cover all the costs) a $5-10 fare would still be much cheaper than a cab for me. They probably wouldn't consider that option though.

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I understand this... but it is the overall impact on the city that I worry about.

But that's not Metro's job. The overall impact to the city is DC's job. And the inherent problem of the multi-jurisdiction WMATA. Even if DC decided to throw money at WMATA because it made sense overall for the city to have the service, unless VA and MD match, it goes nowhere.

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But that's not Metro's job. The overall impact to the city is DC's job. And the inherent problem of the multi-jurisdiction WMATA. Even if DC decided to throw money at WMATA because it made sense overall for the city to have the service, unless VA and MD match, it goes nowhere.

There are plenty of areas of Maryland (think Bethesda) and Virginia (think Clarendon) that would be negatively affected as well. And as far as it not being Metro's job to consider the overall impact on the city of its policies, Metro's mission statement says "Metro provides the nation’s best transit service to our customers and improves the quality of life in the Washington metropolitan area." I'd say that second clause covers it pretty well.

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I hadn't noticed that Adams-Morgan was a post-midnight ghost town before the Metro started running late, so I'm not worried that it's going to become another Underground Atlanta. And there's a reasonable argument to be made that anything that cuts into the drunk asshole factor afflicting Adams-Morgan and U Street every weekend night is a net positive for people who actually live in the District.

But, beyond that, the system is running at a huge deficit with deteriorating facilities at a time when local governments have to choose between subsidizing late-night revelers and paying teacher salaries. I have no great love for the Metro Board, but I suspect that they didn't make this decision lightly. Late night service came late in the system's history because the demand was limited (what are we talking about, six stops on the entire system that have any real ridership at that point?) .

And, with all due respect to low-paid kitchen help that might be affected, the news coverage has largely focused on monied white revelers who might be inconvenienced. If it's between them and the people going to work at 6AM, I'm going with the latter. I feel no particular need to subsidize Bill Duggan's bar.

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Asinine. Why does the capital of the United States have such a terrible (and expensive) public transports system?

I am sure that one factor is because they did not start building it 100 years ago like some other cities.

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I am sure that one factor is because they did not start building it 100 years ago like some other cities.

Boston's is the oldest in the nation and shuts down around midnight even on weekends, too, so I'm not sure how much of a factor that is. Then again, the MTA is still cheaper than the Metro.

(Just don't ask Charlie ... )

As much as I want to look at this and say, "Yeah, the rest of the country is going to just feel vindicated in not finding DC a cosmopolitan destination" ... the real issue is, I think, the one Waitman points out: working people who need to commute at off-hours. These tend to be people in service or care industries, not just the restaurant workers (who are relevant to us here), but the late- and early-shift nurses and orderlies, for example. It's inordinately frustrating. I'm rarely out late enough to need to ride Metro at these times (oh, those were the days! ... uh, maybe), but I'm the demographic that can take a cab if it needs or wants.

I just find this a simplistic solution to a complex problem.

My friend at GreaterGreaterWashington.org passed this along, though, for anyone who is interested in agitating for change. :lol:

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Asinine. Why does the capital of the United States have such a terrible (and expensive) public transports system?

If everyone gives up their cars and house with a yard and lives in the city (like they do in NYC, London, Paris, etc.) then we can have a 24 hr public transport system. As Waitman points out, I rather not waste my tax dollars on making the lives of a few easier.

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If everyone gives up their cars and house with a yard and lives in the city (like they do in NYC, London, Paris, etc.) then we can have a 24 hr public transport system. As Waitman points out, I rather not waste my tax dollars on making the lives of a few easier.

When folk begin to factor in the cost of the subsidies to cars and roads properly, then we can have a discussion of where our tax dollars are going.

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I'd like to emphasize that this is part of a proposed array of service cuts being considered, which also includes eliminating bus routes, shortening bus routes, fewer bus runs, longer headways between Metro trains, shorter trains during rush hour, and a whole bunch of fare increases. Metro is not considering these things because they seem like good ideas (they're almost all lousy ideas, except for some of the fare increases), but because they've got a looming budget shortfall of $189 million and can't print money. But nothing has been decided yet, and they've received a lot of citizen input which has been overwhelmingly against the service cuts and for the fare increases.

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