LivingSocial Footing the Bill for Late-Night Postseason Metro
Metro will remain open an extra hour to let Nationals fans get home.
LivingSocial, a daily deals online site headquartered in the District, has offered to cover the deposit for additional late-night metro service during the Major League Baseball Season.
The Washington Nationals recently secured a slot in the playoffs and metro service for late games was in question.
As Patch previously reported, to keep the rails open after normal hours Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) requires a $29,500 deposit, which the agency will return based upon the number of fares generated that night.
The deposit guarantees that the Navy Yard - Ballpark station will remain open after an extra hour after playoff games.
As of yesterday, Metro did not know if the additional service would be offered. Earlier Thursday afternoon the agency indicated it would be making an announcement about late-night service and then announced just after 5 p.m. that LivingSocial would be footing the bill.
Greg Crider
9:18 am on Friday, September 28, 2012
The Nationals organization, especially owners Ted and Mark Lerner, should be embarassed that another business has to come to their rescue for late night metro service to keep fans in their seats. Living Social just prevented the Nationals a PR nightmare if fans went streaming for the exits during a close extra inning playoff game like happened during the Nats vs Braves game in August. Time for the Nationals to "step up to the plate" like event organizers at the Verizon Center.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/post/baseball-fans-stranded-after-nats-game-runs-late-and-metro-closes/2012/08/21/949229a0-ebb3-11e1-a80b-9f898562d010_blog.html