Dozens of Maryland Officials Call on WMATA to Keep Late-Night Service

Forty elected officials representing Montgomery and Prince George's counties are urging WMATA to keep late-night Metro service.

The Maryland officials sent a letter to Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld on Thursday, asking him to reconsider his proposal to permanently stop service at 10 p.m. on Sundays and at midnight during the rest of the week.

The letter reads in part, "we are extremely concerned about the long-term effect of the service changes you have proposed."

"We appreciate the dramatic measures you have taken...to make the system safer and, in the long run, improve service," the letter goes on to say.

However, the officials, including senators, delegates and Montgomery County council members, said they are concerned about how the change would affect people who work late at night and the "significant public safety risk" as people rely on Metro to get home after going out to clubs and bars.

The letter also explains how no late-night service might impact communities that have emphasized developing near Metro stations.

"We cannot expect people to fill the mixed use developments around Metro if it is no more convenient than living in other, less costly communities," the letter said.

"Perhaps there are alternative options that can maintain late-night weekend and standard Sunday night service such as temporary spot closures (the entire system cannot be worked on at once); express service that skips some stations and single tracks around maintenance areas; or focusing service on an outbound basis after a certain hour," officials suggest in the letter. "None of these suggestions are an ideal solution, and we do not explicitly endorse any of them, but all are preferable to a permanent end to late-night weekend service and standard Sunday service."

Letter from Maryland Officials to WMATA on Late Night Service Hours by David Moon on Scribd

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