What does John Catoe have against late night trains?

[tags]washington dc, wmata, dcist, john catoe[/tags]

A Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority subway station.
Credit: dbking via Flickr (Creative Commons license)

One of Angelenos’ many gripes about Metro Rail is that the trains stop running before last call. Now train riders in the nation’s capital may share in our angst. WMATA is planning to cut weekend owl train service and replace service with buses.

Something else L.A. and D.C. share in common: transit leadership. John Catoe, WMATA’s CEO, returned to his native Washington D.C. after forging his career in Southern California transit agencies. He was Metro’s number two man, and prior to that, he was general manager of Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus and operations director at Orange County Transportation Authority.

It’s not that Catoe thinks what’s good enough for the L.A. goose is fit for the D.C. gander. WMATA is facing its own financial shortfall, buses might be cheaper to operate for light late-night crowds, and the maintenance department can use the downtime to repair trains and stations.

On DCist — LAist’s sister site — announcement of the cuts drew a considerable amount of commentary. Also, a poll on the site drew 970 responses, and only 6 percent chose taking the replacement buses. Thirty-five percent said they would consider driving or having a friend take them home after a night at the pub.