Does the metro stop running at midnight?

[mongo]

Maybe I'm remembering it wrong, but I thought that it did.

[marmar]

1. Not on Friday and Saturday nights...

It's about 2 or 3 a.m. those nights.

[mongo]

2. Thanks!

Just trying to plan my night. It looks like the busses will be directed to the ends of the metro lines to park for the day and people leaving the rally will have to travel to there.

[vademocrat]

3. They've expanded weekend hours - now runs till 3am fri/sat

It's a good idea to check "last train" times from individual stations since some stations have their last train before 3 am.

http://www.wmata.com/

[Southpaw Bookworm]

4. Not anymore, on weekends

Here's the info from Metro's site:

7 days a week

Metrorail opens 5:00 a.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. on weekends. It closes at midnight Sunday to Thursday. On Friday and Saturday nights, it stays open until 3 a.m.

Please keep in mind that 3 am is when the trains stop running altogether, but the last train at your departure point might stop there at 2:15. Also, trains do not run frequently at that hour, so you may have to wait 20 minutes for the next train. If you have to transfer, take that into account as you plan. So, if you need to go from Dupont Circle (Red Line) to Vienna (Orange Line), you might need to be at the station at 1:50, because it's 10 minutes to Metro Center, where you may have to wait 10 minutes for the final Orange Line train heading west, which might stop there at 2:15.

This was a change a couple of years ago, and an interesting example in class politics. There were many cries about how Metro couldn't afford to run so late and that they needed time to clean the trains and handle quick repairs before reopening at 7. Also, many politicians grumbled about subsidizing travel for a bunch of late-night partiers and drunks. (Because the high-class drunks just drive themselves or have chauffers.) And then during a trial phase, when they opened until 2, they found out that more than half of all riders after midnight were actually minimum-wage workers coming home from or heading to work: janitors, cooks, dishwashers, hotel clerks, and all the other lower-income people without whom Washington would crumble.

[mongo]

5. Thanks

It's been several years since I've been to DC. It is about the only city that I truely love.