(Photo by nevermindtheend)

After Metro officials came out with their preferred alternative to trim hours of operation for the system yesterday, one of the most pressing questions was if D.C. would go along with it. Both the mayor and the D.C. Council had previously expressed their dissatisfaction with cuts to late-night service, which disproportionately affect low-wage workers. But at a breakfast meeting today, Ward 2 Councilmember and Metro board chairman Jack Evans indicated that D.C. would support cuts if they are temporary.

“My opinion is that we do not do anything on a permanent basis,” Evans said, outlining a plan to support reduced service for 12 months rather than indefinitely.

For the past few years, Metro operated through midnight from Sunday through Thursday and through 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. But as part of the year-long maintenance effort known as SafeTrack, the system has been closing at midnight every day of the week. Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld has said that even after the program is complete in the spring, the transit agency will need more time to work on preventative maintenance.

Under the proposal that Wiedefeld favors, the system would be open from 5 a.m. through 11:30 p.m. from Monday through Thursday; from 5 a.m. through 1 a.m. on Friday; from 7 a.m. through 1 a.m. on Saturday; and 8 a.m. through 11 p.m. on Sunday.

Both Virginia and Maryland WMATA board members have signaled in recent days that they would back the late-night cuts, but Evans threatened to use a jurisdictional veto today if they are made permanent. Instead Evans said he favors one year under the proposed schedule, after which they would revisit the issue.

Though she said otherwise in a release just yesterday, Mayor Muriel Bowser indicated that she is now inclined to agree. “We think that a 12-month extension of limiting late-night hours is probably warranted,” she said, according to WAMU. “Looking at it 12 months at a time makes sense.”

Meanwhile, At-large Councilmember Elissa Silverman (joined by Ward 6’s Charles Allen) pleaded for more temperate language about the system’s condition. “I think we should be a little more careful about making it sound like Metro’s about to collapse,” she said.