Closing Time: 1AM

[BostonFaker]

What are people's opinion of the MBTA subway closing every night at 1AM? The most likely reason for this, of course, is the lack of money, but I think the subway should be 24 hours a day.

This goes along with my view of allowing restaurants and bars to stay open later than 2AM.

[Recchia]

What are people's opinion of the MBTA subway closing every night at 1AM?  The most likely reason for this, of course, is the lack of money, but I think the subway should be 24 hours a day.

This goes along with my view of allowing restaurants and bars to stay open later than 2AM.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This is what I hate about Boston the most. The whole city shuts down at 1am, its ridiculous. Now I know on Fridays and Saturdays the MBTA runs those buses along roads that parrallel T lines ("night owl" service), but even those don't even run past 2:30-3am. And the 2am thing is ridiculous too, this is a major city, bars should be open til 4am.

So many times I've been in Boston and missed the last T and have had to walk godawful distances back to my friend's apartment at 3am, or even worse, take a cab. If anything they should atleast run all four green lines 24 hours on the weekends, since it serves so many colleges, and college students are pretty much nocturnal on the weekends anyway.

[Cotuit]

24-hour subway service is actually quite rare. There is a lot of maintanence that needs doing in the off hours, and it is really not possible with trains running. New York gets away with it because of the large number of express tracks, it's easy for them to reroute trains, and anyone who's ever traveled late night in New York knows how whacked the system can be at night with various diversions.

The Night Owl service is a common alternative in many cities, I believe San Francisco has a rather successful Night Owl service. Boston's has recently been cut, and could go away altogether, it is extremely expensive to run because all of the drivers are working overtime.

What Boston should do is run late night subway service on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, with limited Night Owl bus service at other times. It is expensive, but it should be able to pay for itself in other ways. Simply losing the reputation of being a city that goes to bed early will make it more attractive to conventions.

[Recchia]

I would assume that running buses is cheaper than running a train, right?, despite having to pay drivers overtime? So at least run the night owls til around 4am on the weekends, and get some bars and clubs to stay open late with more late night food options. Even in Albany I can leave a bar at 3:30am and still have plenty of pizza and chinese choices to go to til 4 to sober up.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Yeah, in my admittedly limited experience, New York is the only city I've seen that has 24 hour subways. I know London and Paris both shut down, I believe around 1 o'clock as well, and they're much bigger than Boston -- in physical size, in population, in cultural and political importance.

It would be nice to see some legit late-night transit options, though. I haven't really been in Boston late at night much but I've heard horror stories about it. Just imagine taking the Red Line in from Braintree for a concert or something and being stranded at 1 in the morning. That's a hugely foreign concept for me; I go to school 70 miles north of NYC and even then I'm able to catch public transit home at 1:30 am on the Metro North commuter rail.

[umfan83]

^^ Chicago also has two 24-hour subway lines, the Red Line and the Blue Line. Recently, the lines were under a budget crisis and the 24 hour service was threatened, but the state stepped in at the last minute to save it. Thank God, I am nocturnal and need 24 hour public transit.

[EbonyGardens]

Does the closing have anything to do with crime? I'm thinking that could be a possible reason why the 1am closing is in effect.

[blink55184]

Does the closing have anything to do with crime? I'm thinking that could be a possible reason why the 1am closing is in effect.

No, not at all. Crime is very low on the MBTA, VERY low.

And now all the Night Owl Bus Service has been cancelled.

So very little night time service.

I do wish theyd run til 3 or so. But even then, it would only be shutting down for 2 hours, I believe the first trains are 5 or 5:15 am. So why not go all the way?? Probably beacuse they are already coming up on millions of dollars of a budget shortfall....again.

Only 2 US systems run 24 hours, NYC and Chicago.

[NewTowner]

There are many cities which have 24-hour rail transit service, although this seems to more common with Light Rail systems than Undergrounds.

For example, the relatively little city of Dresden, Germany, has 24-hour streetcar services. The trains are few and far between, but at least they happen.

[blink55184]

There are many cities which have 24-hour rail transit service, although this seems to more common with Light Rail systems than Undergrounds.

For example, the relatively little city of Dresden, Germany, has 24-hour streetcar services. The trains are few and far between, but at least they happen.

Yah, the 24 hour systems slow down.

In NYC, a train that would come ever 5-7 minutes comes every 20 or so in the late hours/early morning

[nowyano]

24-hour subway service is actually quite rare...

I remember reading in the Globe a few months back that Boston and Atlanta are the largest cities without 24 hour a day public transportation. I think part of the reason that the T stops so early is that the city does. It truly is a large metro that runs like a teeny-tiny city. Downtown Crossing closes at 8:00 most nights, most restaurants don't stay open too far past 11:00 pm on the weekends, hell IHOP is coming to Harvard Square and they told them they couldn't stay open later than 2:00 am ...