Metro Service Hours Reduction Proposal

Metro’sthinking of rolling back hours to 12 on weekends: astonishingly BAD idea. Victims: restaurants/employees/consumers/regional economy…

Ina Metro Board committee meeting, the most astonishingly bad idea was proposed to help close Metro’s budget gap…roll back closing hours on weekends to midnight.

We have come a long, long way from the bad old days of deserted, dilapidated and dangerous commercial districts during the evening hours and few destination restaurant and entertainment neighborhoods. The establishment and growth of vibrant areas such as Penn Quarter, Ballston, U/14th Street Corridors and Clarendon are directly attributable to transportation access for patrons, visitors and employees.

Early closing hours for Metro will seriously harm, if not kill, established and emerging entertainment districts for a whole slew of reasons: commuting for employees becomes untenable; the temptation to drink and drive increases when public transportation options are reduced; even if you wanted to drive you probably couldn’t because of recent draconian restrictions of, rate hikes on and reduced numbers of parking spaces in DC; and safety becomes a greater issue as transportation options become restricted. Beyond the obvious, immediate effect on simply getting around, restricted Metro hours will negatively impact the nightlife economy. Read the full press release here.

UPDATE: MEMBERS SPEAK OUT ON METRO’S SERVICE HOURS REDUCTION PROPOSAL

Washington, DC, February 14, 2011 – Since RAMW’s Information Alert and press release last Friday (see below) members have reached out to express their deep concern and outrage over the potentially devastating loss of weekend Metro rail hours. RAMW would like to encourage our members to contact the Metro Board to let them know just how negative an impact this is and what effects it would have on your business, employees and patrons.