Metro riders may have to bid a permanent adieu to late-night weekend service.
And on Sundays, Wiedefeld proposes, the system would shut down at 10 p.m. instead of midnight.
The change would have to be approved by Metro’s board of directors before it could be put into effect after the conclusion of SafeTrack. He’ll officially float the idea at Thursday’s board meeting.
“The additional track time increases safety and reliability by giving workers the time and space they need to keep Metro’s infrastructure in a state of good repair,” Metro said in a statement, pointing out that the permanent schedule change would reduce the number of operating hours on the system only by eight hours per week.
“To inform this recommendation, Wiedefeld engaged peer transit agencies and rail engineering consultants, all of whom urged that the focus on track safety and maintenance continue to prevent Metro from sliding backward,” the agency said.
Metro is currently operating under a curtailed schedule: When Wiedefeld announced his plans for the SafeTrack program, a 10-month period of intense service disruptions for ambitious maintenance work, he also pushed for Metro to close early during that period to allow for more work to be performed.
Riders are not expected to be too happy with the schedule change.
They want to shut the D.C. subway down at 10pm on Sunday nights, and midnight other days.
— Jason Rabinowitz (@AirlineFlyer) July 26, 2016
Why even have a subway? https://t.co/pZIxXVIWz5