Following up on our post over the weekend (Metro Turning Into a Pumpkin Again?, August 5, 2007) we find that in Tuesday's Examiner, Sprawl & Crawl Columnist Steve Eldridge comes out against WMATA discontinuing weekend Night Owl service on Metrorail (Sprawl and Crawl; August 7, 2007). Steve's parting comment:
"It seems to me that the three states (Maryland, Virginia and the District) should continue to help defray the costs to continue late night service. Maryland and Virginia should continue because it gives their residents an option to driving from District bars after having too much to drink and it brings more money into the city. Metro can’t afford to start cutting back on services that serve the needs and wants of the region in such a manner even if it is to save money. The board and the General Manager need to figure out other ways to run this system in a more cost-efficient way."
Agreed.
Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a biking/Metro commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria
There was also a letter in the Post earlier this week that metnioned that if late night service allowed for a sufficient maintenance window then fewer weekend service disrputions would be necassery and a LOT more people are affected by those disruption than ride at night. That's another issue to consider. When the system was in its early days it closed at midnight on Friday and reopned on Saturday at 8AM before closing again at midnight. It would then not reopen until Sundays at 10AM and close again at 10PM. Back then system also openeed on weekdays at 6AM not 5AM. My point is the windows available to do maintenance have declined markedly over time. This whole argument over real cities not closing early is made by ignorant people who haven't taken the time to do their homework (Tokyo closes at midnight sharp and it is far more a real city than Washington)
Posted by: Dharm Guruswamy | August 10, 2007 at 10:31 AM