Steve Burns
WMAL.com

WASHINGTON – (WMAL) After months of public input on what Metro’s permanent operating hours should be once the Safe Track program is done, Metro staff says more people favored the option that keeps the system open until 1am Friday and Saturday nights. It would close at 11:30pm Monday-Thursday.

Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld called on the agency to review its operating hours as he said the system needs more time for maintenance than it had in the past, even after Safe Track is over. 3am closures on Friday and Saturday were curtailed for Safe Track, and Wiedefeld recommended keeping the Safe Track hours even after the program is completed – closing at midnight seven days a week.

“The fundamental fact is there are only so many ways to skin this cat,” Montgomery County Councilmember and Council of Governments Chairman Roger Berliner told WMAL. “I think this is a reasonable middle ground.”

The plan received pushback, especially from District officials and Board Chairman Jack Evans, who insisted low-income workers who can’t afford an Uber or Lyft need a way to get home after their late shifts.

“Washington’s a big city,” Evans told WMAL last month. “We want to show that we are like London Paris, New York, and keep our subway system open.” Evans proposed keeping 3am closures but opening the system at noon on Sundays to make up for the lost maintenance time.

The 1am plan came to be seen as a compromise measure supported by Board members in Maryland and Virginia. It also cuts back on Sunday hours, but not as drastically. The system would open at 8am and close at 11pm Sundays.

“There aren’t great options here,” Berliner said. “I like the fact that it’s going to be a two-year program; it’s not permanent…My hope is that they will use that (extra maintenance) time well, and at the end of two years, everybody looks at each other and says, ‘”Okay. We can go back to extending times.'”

Metro staff also recommends following through with a late-night bus plan replicating high-traffic routes.

The report indicates an “unprecedented” amount of public input came in on the issue – nearly 16,000 comments – and of those an “overwhelming” preference was found for the 1am option, spanning multiple demographics, including low-income and minority customers.

Metro’s Board is set to take a final vote on the recommendation Thursday.

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