Thanks To....The Country Of Qatar For Keeping The DC Metro Open Late For Caps Games
Washington Post - Metro announced early Monday morning that it will extend service by one hour Tuesday night to accommodate fans attending Game 3 of the Stanley Cup playoffs’ Eastern Conference finals between the Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning. With the puck scheduled to drop at 8 p.m., Metro’s usual 11:30 p.m. weeknight closing time could have presented a problem for fans if the game goes to overtime.
D.C. Council member Jack Evans, also chair of the Metro board, said last week that he had been in discussions with a couple of companies that were considering paying the $100,000 fee to keep Metro open an additional hour, and Exelon and Pepco stepped up for Tuesday night.
On Tuesday, Evans told The Washington Post that the tiny, wealthy nation of Qatar has agreed to pay the $100,000 fee to keep Metro open until 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, when the Capitals host Game 4. That game also is set for an 8 p.m. start.
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I’ve long blogged about what a disaster the DC Metro is. The DC Metro makes the NYC Subway look like Japan Bullet Trains. The Metro STINKS times infinity. When it isn’t catching on fire, it’s just generally unreliable in every single way public transportation can be. Oh, and it closes at 11:30pm. The DC Metro has an earlier curfew than high school juniors who get their driver’s license. It’s simply the worst. God forbid a game goes into overtime, you have an arena full of people deciding between staying or making it home without spending $100 on an Uber. Thanks, Obama!
So when the playoffs roll around, sometimes companies step up and pay the Metro $100,000 per hour, that’s right- $100,000 per hour, to stay open. Insert: the hockey capital of the world, Qatar.
Now, while Qatar does have a good amount of desert:
They also have a couple sweet looking ice rinks too!
And so being a strong hockey country, they decided to pony up a few nickels and keep the Metro open on Thursday until 12:30am. Sure they are using slave labor to build lavish soccer stadiums for the World Cup, but besides that and some human rights issues, what a great country!