Until 2AM? It has to run slightly after 2AM to pick up the closing time crowd.
Strangely enough, the night owl buses that run at 3AM and 4AM have an unusually high number of riders. Why can't they run a few more in different directions? Like one across 520, another across I90, etc. For the Metro/ST bean counters counting passenger miles, they make more sense than many daytime routes.
When I lived in Boston 20 years ago the T stopped shortly after midnight, too, which always meant either missing the headlining band or taking a taxi. The rumor was the taxi companies paid off the transit people, which rather doubt, but still. Quite annoying.
They could run more trains if they spaced them, say one an hour between midnight and 5 a.m. That's only FIVE more trains. Would that bankrupt the system?
At this point, it's hard to tell the difference between an amusement park ride and our train system.
Your plan would take valuable dollars from the DUI-funded budgets of various law-enforcement bodies and other state bodies. Don't you know they rely on people driving drunk? If it was easy to get home from the bar without driving, an entire industry of lawyers, public officials, etc, would be out millions of dollars. The SPD and highway patrol would appreciate you being a little more sensitive to their needs.
@5,6, Har-har-hardly. State Patrol doesn't make any money off of catching drunks and they really don't catch as many drunks late at night as they're just as likely to be sorting out the drunks fighting on the street, picking up the pieces of a hit and run, or some other fun little closing time smashup that all happen at the same time since all the bars and clubs close at exactly the same time. There aren't enough cops to catch even 1/10th of the late night DUI crowd. The real hardcore repeat drunk drivers are the ones who are swerving in the afternoon after drinking all day on an empty stomach.
I love the idea of running more transit late at night, but I doubt that Metro wants to deal with a bus load of drunks getting rowdy. I guess for now the better solution is to drink locally or live closer to the entertainment.
I agree that it would be great if they ran at least one post-2am train on Friday and Saturday nights, so people could leave downtown stops, Columbia City, BEHI, etc at bar time and take the train home. Hell, even if they just ran a train one hour later than they do now, that would a big improvement. Even if the last train on Fri/Sat at Westlake was at 1:37am instead of 12:37 am, you'd be able to say leave the Crocodile at 1:20am (a little before last call) and get on that thing.
@12, if it is where the passengers are, yes. You're not some 19th century farmer or shift working steel worker. Lots of hard working people don't have 9-5 jobs, and 9-5'ers probably don't make enough to claim to be subsidizing anything. Get over your bad-ass middle-class entitlement and join reality.
Strangely enough, the night owl buses that run at 3AM and 4AM have an unusually high number of riders. Why can't they run a few more in different directions? Like one across 520, another across I90, etc. For the Metro/ST bean counters counting passenger miles, they make more sense than many daytime routes.
At this point, it's hard to tell the difference between an amusement park ride and our train system.
I love the idea of running more transit late at night, but I doubt that Metro wants to deal with a bus load of drunks getting rowdy. I guess for now the better solution is to drink locally or live closer to the entertainment.
Yeah, they do. It's called overtime and additional staffing.
Come on sound transit.
Now if only I could go somewhere on NYE without feeling like a jerk for leaving the husband (who has no interest in celebrations of any kind) at home.