DC’s WMATA considers cutting late-night service

My former Woodley Park Metro stop lies empty. (Photo courtesy of flickr user DruhScoff)

Allow me to journey out of New York City for a little while and away from the beleaguered MTA. Allow me to depart from congestion fee victories and communications upgrades until this afternoon. Let’s instead turn to my former haunt (for ten months, at least): Washington, D.C.

I’ve written before on the WMATA and my time in Washington. What I’ve never mentioned here is that the WMATA was a contributing factor for my utter dislike of my time residing in the Nation’s Capital.

While ostensibly a subway system, the WMATA is infuriatingly annoying if you rely on it to get around. After peak hours are over — generally around 8 p.m. — wait times shoot up and forget late nights. The system shuts down at midnight on weeknights and 3 a.m. on the weekends, but if you want to get home around then, you have to leave an hour for travel. It was nearly always faster for me to walk the 2.8 miles uphill from the Kennedy Center to my apartment following performances than it was take the Metro.

Meanwhile, the system features two-track tunnels and no express service. While this may not seem like a big deal, the composition of the DC population makes it such. During government hours, numerous stops are very crowded as Congressional staff scurry to and from work. But after hours, these stops — and many others in downtown DC — empty out completely. Gone are the government workers, but the trains still open and close their doors at stations where literally no one gets on or off. When they don’t run extra trains after Nationals games and the crowded trains stop at empty stations and discharge no one, frustration levels are bound to rise.

And in terms of buses, when they aren’t busy running over pedestrians, they aren’t adhering to any set schedule. Night owl service is a joke, and buses just aren’t a reliable means of transportation in the city.

So with all of that in mind, I was amused and dismayed when this post on Subchat led me to a Washington Post article nothing that the WMATA may cut nighttime Metro service and replace it with Night Owl bus service. In no understatement, this is a stunning blow to residents living within the city limits of the District of Columbia.

Metro GM John B. Catoe Jr. gives the typical excuses for the consideration. He cites saving on costs, the seemingly declining popularity of late-night Metro trains and the need to lengthen the maintenance window for trains and stations. Opponents — and there are many — note that DC bus service isn’t an adequate replacement for Metro service, that more drunk drivers will be on the road late at night, and that subway systems in real cities don’t close early. As one rider puts it, “Metro needs to expand to far beyond what it’s doing now.”

The response on DC blogs is overwhelmingly against this idea. DCist chimed in with a well-reasoned post against cutting service, and the commenters on site went crazy. Rusty of Why I Hate DC fame, not a fan of the DC Metro by any standard, noted the “the stupidity of removing late-night Metro service.”

Having been back in New York for over a year now, I have come to appreciate the MTA and New York City Transit even more than I already had. For all its flaws — and I’ve been a harsh critic this week — subway service is always running. Sure, you might have to wait a long time late at night. Sure, rush hour trains are packed. But with this vibrant city comes a vibrant subway.

Down south, Washington, DC, may cut late night service. Can you imagine New York City without late night subway service? Can you imagine the cab fares and the grumpy revelers? For all the grief the MTA gives, I would like to give them credit for this one. They run one helluva service that allows for access to everything this city has to offer. Washington’s WMATA wishes it could say the same thing.