Recommendations for the Adoption of Music City Policy within the 24-Hour City

Excerpt

Learning Alongside London

In the comparative analysis of Melbourne and London, it appears that Melbourne’s policy makers have been more progressive in their approach towards providing accessible and safe public transportation at all hours of the day/night. Melbourne’s public transportation system is founded on a 360 degree approach, that considers all forms of transportation, whether that be pedestrian travel, cycling, ride-share, bus, etc. While I do believe that this holistic approach towards public transportation is an admirable representation of sustainable, efficient, and progressive public transportation policy, the ability to adopt such a policy would first require Washington DC policy makers to increase accessibility and safety of core transportation services, such as expanded Metro hours and increased affordable public parking. 

Therefore, I will focus this recommendation on these core transportation services and model the policy after that of London, a less progressive transportation city, but a more similar one to Washington DC. Like London, Washington DC’s major struggle in public transportation efficiency and accessibility lies in the restricted access to public transportation during the non-workday hours. London has only just recently begun to consider new policy initiatives to provide equal access to transportation to night time workers. In fact, London has yet to successfully implement such a policy; however, in various London night time economy reports from 2019, I found transportational policy recommendations that, with some adjustment, would be just as applicable to the current Washington DC night time economy. I will use these recommendations as a basis for my own, but I will make necessary alterations to them to fit the structure of Washington DC’s night time economy. 

Because of the importance of having an operational 24-hour economy in the development of a music city, public transportation must be available to those actors who work and engage with the night time economy. In terms of a music city, this is most pressing to the live music industry, which primarily functions in the evening and late night hours. Musicians, especially lesser known musicians, whose income has historically been largely rooted in live performance royalties, tips, and payment from venues, must be able to trust that the amount of revenue that comes in from their performances will be consistently greater than the cost of traveling during night time hours. A way to ensure this, is to offer nighttime access to the same forms of public transportation made available to those residents who work during the day. 

A Two-Fold Approach: Extending Railway Operating Hours

In order to bridge the gap between daytime public transportation access and nighttime transportation access, and therefore enhance the livability of musicians in Washington DC, I recommend that the Washington DC’s policy makers introduce a nighttime transportation policy in two-fold: first expand Metro Rail System hours to the same operating hours as the majority of the city’s night-time public establishments, and second, expand the “After Hours Commuter Service Pilot Program” to night time freelance workers, such as performing musicians, that can prove to be performing at least 4 gigs per month. 

Several steps will be required in order to achieve the first goal of this recommendation: expansion of Metro Rail System hours to match the operational hours of night time public establishments (i.e. live music venues, bars, restaurants, clubs, etc.). 

First, a survey of all of the city’s public establishments that operate past the normal working hours of 9am to 5pm must be taken, in which each business owner shall report the operational hours of the establishment. With this data, Washington DC’s policy makers can identify the majority closing hour for night-time public establishments. 

Using this information as a guide to the night time commuter schedule, the city’s policy makers can suggest a new time frame of Metro operating hours that will accommodate a majority of night-time commuters. Rather than expanding hours to an arbitrary time that may either overshoot the relevant time frame and cost the city unnecessary operational spending or fail to meet the relevant time frame and make an insubstantial improvement, Washington DC’s policy makers can make an informed and data-supported adjustment to the Metro Rail Systems operating hours. 

In researching London’s approach to expanding operating hours of the London Tube, it became apparent that there are reasons beyond financial cost that certain operating hours are chosen. One of the major benefits of limiting operating hours of the tube is that the off-hours provide necessary time for the maintenance and repair of the trains and the stations (Nicholls). The safety and cleanliness of public transportation is just as imperative to the well-being of night time workers as the accessibility of transportation; therefore, in an effort to preserve space and time to meet safety and health standards, I recommend limiting the extended hours of operations to four peak nights of night time economy activity. 

This information could be gathered from the same survey used to collect operating hour data, by asking business owners to rank the days of the week from most active to least active, in terms of night time activity. Using the collective rankings of the city’s night time operators, Washington DC’s policy makers can identify the four peak nights of the week, during which the Metro Rail System’s operating hours will extend to match the majority operating hours of the city’s night time public establishments.