Late-night Metro maintenance

I was angry yesterday. I was angry that WMATA’s leaders don’t seem to get that city residents are dependent on Metro for more than their daily commute. I was angry that we have to fight this same fight year after year, against people who should be allies. I was angry that after a half century of experience with transit death spirals, we still don’t understand that cutting service has much bigger and worse implications than near-term cost savings.

And I’m still angry, but I want to mention one more thing, in a more moderate tone: Track maintenance.

One of the purported reasons for the proposal to end late night service is that it would increase the time Metro’s workers have to perform track maintenance without disruption or danger from passing trains. Obviously, track maintenance is important, and has to be carried out or the system will fail.

[Continue reading Dan Malouff's post on BeyondDC.com.]

Dan Malouff is an Arlington County transportation planner who blogs independently at BeyondDC.com. The Local Blog Network is a group of bloggers from around the D.C. region who have agreed to make regular contributions to All Opinions Are Local.