Ouch: 92% Oppose Late Night Metro Changes
Metro's new boss has floated an idea to replace late-night weekend train service with buses. ReadExpress.com took an unscientific poll on the idea, and an amazing 92% of respondents said they'd drive or take a cab rather than take a bus. And the comments show those 92% aren't mildly against the idea -- they're ticked off at Metro for even suggesting it:This is the worst idea for the Metro that I have heard in a long time. This is Washington, DC - the nation's capitol, the center of world power! Not some poor, sleepy town that shuts down after sunset. The General Manager gets paid to come up with ideas like this? Of course, he is an old fuddy-duddy by now so how would he know how important it is to keep Metro open at night?
It's about a $25 cab ride from Dupont to my home in Ballston, so a $2 Metro ride is a pretty sweet deal. The only thing that bugs me about the late-night trains is that they only come every 20 minutes or so. If the buses would run every 5 minutes, I could be swayed, but more frequent service isn't mentioned anywhere in the coverage of the idea.
What do you think? Would you take the bus? Would you cab? Or do you walk to your Arlington neighborhood bar anyway and don't care what those poor DC bar addicts do?
posted by The Green Miles at 12:00 PM
5 Comments:
The idea is absolutely ridiculous. Let's encourage people who have been drinking to not take public transportation and instead get into cabs, or worse, get into cars to drive home. And that's supposed to help Metro's bottom line?
2:08 PM
I'm not sure that I'm amazed by unscientific polls. People who feel most strongly about the issue are most likely to respond.
5:48 PM
Mike, I agree that you can't put much stock in online surveys, but the 92% figure shows exactly what you said -- there are a lot of people who feel REALLY strongly about this. It's never a good thing when your customers are questioning whether management (especially Metro's new-to-DC head) are out of touch.
6:12 PM
I am open to the idea of buses. It would depend on where the buses go, how often, and how safe they are. Those trains are very expensive to run empty.
11:08 PM
DC really needs 24-hour Metro subway service, even if trains only run every 30 or 45 minutes during off peak hours. I can only imaging a bus replacing the Orange line and running down I-66 adn dropping people off at the off ramps. Or worse, taking Route 50 nad stopping every 3 blocks.
10:19 PM
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