MetroRiderLA

Much like beloved actor/bachelor George Clooney, MetroRiderLA is disarmingly attractive and overflowing with dry charm, and because of this both George Clooney and MetroRiderLA are able to pull off some spectacular pranks. MetroRiderLA’s most recent victim is none other than the Los Angeles bicycle activist Enci, who runs the blog Illuminate LA.

Poor Enci fell victim to our charms today when she posted an item on her blog heralding the arrival of Metro L8Nite Service on the Red Line starting May 5th. When I saw this on my feed reader I was immediately reminded of the April Fool’s joke we pulled on our readers last month by announcing, with fake PDF brochure and all, the creatively named L8Nite concept in which riders could pay $8 to ride the Red Line all night on weekends. Unfortunately Enci was defenseless against my expertly designed PDF (my services are available, operators are standing by) and my witty ad copy (a second career perhaps).

I honestly feel really bad, because Enci’s write-up was so full of excitement and joy at the prospect of the nonexistent service. It’s a testament to the quality of life improvements good transit service COULD bring… if it existed in more than just my twisted imagination. But Metro, take heed, L8Nite may have just been a convoluted April Fool’s joke, but maybe the concept holds water. Enci didn’t seem to have a problem with paying a significant amount extra for a few hours of late night service, and I have a feeling she’s not the only one.

All the best pranks have a deeper message running through them, Clooney knows this and so does MetroRider. I hope the message of MetroL8Nite rings loud and clear.

Good news for the clubbers and MetroRiders in general, according to this press release[PDF] I received from Metro, starting in May the Red Line will run nonstop Thursday night through Sunday morning thanks to a program Metro is calling “Metro L8Nite”.

Yes, that’s right, L8Nite. As in, “late night,” get it?

The copy in the colorful press release is just as ridiculous as the name. Using words like “party peeps” and “hipsterific”, Metro is obviously targeting a very specific demographic with this campaign, skewing towards the young and trendy members of Generation Y. According to the press release, starting Thursday nights at midnight, Red Line trains will run every half hour, until, one can assume, the regular schedule starts up again. Apparently this will be the case Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The catch is you have to buy a “Metro L8Nite Pass” which will be available at the ticket vending machines for $8. Another innovation Metro seems to be pulling with this campaign is having “Metro Bouncers”, which I think is just a “kewl” way of saying fare checkers, in place after midnight to make sure the club goers aren’t cheating.

The best part of this all? It’s coming in just over a month. It seems Metro is timing the start of this program with a big party weekend, Cinco de Mayo. I imagine if they promote this right, things are going to get really wild on the Red Line that first weekend of May.

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