Metro still wants to end late-night rail service to do more maintenance. Here’s the late-night bus service that could take its place.

Photo by ep_jhu on Flickr.

When SafeTrack started, Metro moved from closing at 3 am on weekends to closing at midnight every day so there would be enough time for repairs. In late July, General Manager Paul Wiedefeld said that Metro needed to permanently end its late-night service to give Metro more track time to do maintenance and repairs, a move that would give Metro the most limited hours of any large rail transit system in the US.

In the months since, several groups, including elected officials from DC, Arlington, and Maryland, and local business leaders, have spoken out against the planned cuts. Others have demanded that Metro should, at the very least, provide a late-night bus alternative.

Metro finally released that bus plan last week. Here’s what it looks like:

Proposed supplemental Metrobus service. Click for a larger version. Map by WMATA.

The plan compiles existing late-night bus routes into one map, and in some cases, extends routes to service more areas. For instance, the L2, which typically runs between Farragut North and Friendship Heights, continues on to White Flint.

What other changes do you notice?

Kelli Raboy works as a federal contractor supporting research on vehicle automation and communications. She loves all things cities, public transit, and rail. She lives in Navy Yard.