With Phoenix just 99 days away from opening its light rail line, local scenesters are lobbying the city’s metro agency to keep the trains going later at night on the weekends. Currently, planned operating hours are 4:45am – 12 midnight.
In case you’re wondering, Seattle’s light rail will be a bit more night owl-friendly, running until 1am every night. I belive this is about when BART stops running, incidentally.
One of the great things about rail, of course, is that it has relatively low operating costs once you build it, so extending the hours shouldn’t be that big of a deal. It’s running on electricity that’s basically free (water still flows over Ross Dam at night, but the electricity it produces often goes to waste because demand is so low).
Of course, those late night drunk trains aren’t always fun. I’ve ridden the train known as the “vomit comet” more times than I’d care to admit, and it’s incredibly annoying. Still, it beats everyone getting into their cars at 2am by a long shot.
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