Will WMATA extend Metro hours in certain locations?
Our People's Pod traveled to Dupont Circle where we met Bailey Moon. She wants to know why WMATA won't extend Metro hours. Our team from #TheQandA got the answer.
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Question Why won't WMATA extend metro hours?
If you’re new to town – not so fun fact – Metro closes at 11:30 p.m. and reopens at 5 a.m.
If you go out at dinner or drinks using Metro and want to stay out late, you need to plan to call an Uber or Lyft in order to get home. Not ideal.
This is an even bigger issue for workers making minimum wage who would like to use Metro as an inexpensive way to get to and from work, but they can’t.
Christopher Brown works at Target in Columbia Heights. He takes the Metro to work in the afternoon while it’s running, but when it’s time for him to go home around 11:30 p.m., the Metro is already closed. To get home, he has to spend more of his hard earned money to get home using Uber or Lyft. He says it can cost up to 10 times as much as a Metro ride.
Emanuel Hawkins was stranded. He had to sleep at a bus stop until Metro reopened at 5 a.m. He didn’t have extra money on him for a cab ride and his parents don’t drive.
Short Answer
The quick answer that I got from WMATA’s Metro's Chief Communications Director, Dan Stessel is that they use time to do critical train maintenance.
More Details Dan Stessel, WMATA’s Metro Chief Communications Director
"If you were here a few years ago, Stessel explained, "your experience with Metro service would be quite different than it is today. The system was far less reliable due to a massive backlog of maintenance needs on an aging system. We were running more trains over more hours, all as the system was getting older and the backlog was getting bigger."
Back in 2016 things got really bad for Metro and Metro riders. There was 24/7 track work and major disruptions to service as part of the SafeTrack program that was put in place to make many critical improvements.
“Since then,” said Stessel, “Metro has been pivoting to a preventive maintenance program that seeks to keep the system in a safe and reliable state by addressing maintenance needs before they disrupt customers.”
Stessel credits Metro’s highest on-time performance in more than eight years and the ability to guarantee rush-hour service within 10 minutes or riders get their money back, to their maintenance strategy.
Now, when Metro has a shutdown at 9:30 a.m. on a Monday – we all have a reason to be upset.
Follow-up Question From Megan G in Columbia Heights
Megan G. a retail associate at Target in Columbia Heights asked: "Can Metro keep certain lines open later in areas where the stores stay open later?"
Follow-up Answer
Stessel told #TheQandA that Megan's idea just wouldn’t work. He explained that "Five of the six lines overlap so it doesn't make sense to rotate repairs." Imagine this -- you get on the metro at a station that is open late, but you can’t get to your destination because it's on a line that is closed because it’s scheduled for repairs that day. What are you going to do then?
Now when they shut down your line for maintenance at 9:30 a.m. on a Monday. Trust me – we’ll all have a reason to be upset.