The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority will shut down all rail and bus this weekend in the face of a winter storm that could dump historically ridiculous amounts of snow on the area, the agency’s general manager, Paul Wiedefeld, said at a Thursday-afternoon press conference.
Metro’s rail routes will run from 5 AM to 11 PM Friday and will serve both above- and below-ground stations before closing all-day Saturday and Sunday; bus service will begin Friday morning under a “severe” weather plan, with only routes along major corridors operating before shutting down for the snowy weekend at 5 PM.
“We cannot risk putting our customers out there and leave them stranded,” Wiedefeld said.
Additionally, the District Department of Transportation’s Circulator bus routes will shut down at 5 PM Friday.
The shutdown of rail service will affect the entire system, including underground stations. “Metro will protect hundreds of railcars by storing them in the tunnels during the storm,” a press release from the transit agency reads.
Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.
