Next 24 hour American city?

[L41A]

Originally Posted by tdawg

Looking backward, Atlanta in the 1990s had several bars and clubs that had grandfathered licenses to operate 24hrs/day. The city changed the laws, though, and they don't anymore. Sentinel, pretty funny. I'm in my early 50s now and in bed by 10pm but back in my 20s in Atlanta we wouldn't even go out until 2-3am. That was the era of underground house parties (and the rise of ecstacy).

Atlanta in the 80's thru early 2000's (my college and young adult years) nightlife was most definitely 24-7. The regular Bars/clubs didn't close until 4-5 in the morning and plus there were multiple 24 hour bar/clubs. Like Jermaine Dupri said in "Welcome to Atlanta", 'parties don't stop 'til 8 in the morning'. Though, we were mostly dancing, socializing, styling, and profiling.

I'm a night person, not as much as when younger. But like you back then, many times we wouldn't even go out 'til well after midnight. Or many times start the night with afterhour. Then either continue to party or go home for a party nap/refresh and head back out around 1-2 in the morning and party 'til the sun came up. When 4-5 o'clock bars closed, we would either discuss whether to go to one of the 24 hr spots, eat, or head home. Mayor Franklin's administration relaxed the hours in the city but DeKalb hours didn't change.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by ColDayMan

Isn't PATCO still 24 hours?

Yes, the PATCO Speed Line runs 24 hours a day between the heart of Philadelphia and its New Jersey suburbs. There is one station in Center City that closes for four hours overnight, but the rest remain open all night.

[Centropolis]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

The trend seems to signal that fewer cities will be 24/7. At least, outside of Asia, and maybe NYC.

In Canada, only Montreal comes close (and it is not 24/7, yet, although they are talking about removing the rule for bars to close at 3am).

this…anecdotally midwestern cities were closer to 24/7 10 years ago..i dont close down 3 AM bars and go to afterhours in st. louis anymore but you could get full table service meals at some restaurants (not talking about 24/7 diners..theres less of those too..but serving the service industry and late shifts) far later (after midnight) than seems available now.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by ColDayMan

Isn't PATCO still 24 hours?

Great call!

So far, for non-bus 24/7 transit in the US, we have:

NYC - entire MTA subway, SIRT, PATH, LIRR and SI Ferry
Chicago - CTA red and blue lines
Philly - PATCO speed line

[BnaBreaker]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

That can't be right.

Surely some of those ultra 24/7 Asian mega-cities run their trains all night long too, right?

One could say this is a bit anecdotal I suppose, but I know from personal late night partying experience that Paris, London, Shanghai, Mexico City, and Tokyo have no 24 hour... or even what I would consider particularly late... metro service, which kind of blew my mind, especially in the case of Tokyo.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by craigs

Yes, the PATCO Speed Line runs 24 hours a day between the heart of Philadelphia and its New Jersey suburbs. There is one station in Center City that closes for four hours overnight, but the rest remain open all night.

Though with only 1 train per hour overnight, it's not much better than the typical metro line that shuts down for 3-4 hours!

[craigs]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Though with only 1 train per hour overnight, it's not much better than the typical metro line that shuts down for 3-4 hours!

Assuming you are right, it is also true that most metro train lines in America don't even bother to run a train every hour overnight. It is what it is.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by craigs

Assuming you are right, it is also true that most metro train lines in America don't even bother to run a train every hour overnight. It is what it is.

I mean, bus service probably makes more sense at night in most cases that don't involve water crossings or freeway median running. High capacity is not needed, and there is typically little traffic so the bus can be quite fast. Plus it makes it easier to do maintenance...

[streetscaper]

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

One could say this is a bit anecdotal I suppose, but I know from personal late night partying experience that Paris, London, Shanghai, Mexico City, and Tokyo have no 24 hour... or even what I would consider particularly late... metro service, which kind of blew my mind, especially in the case of Tokyo.

According to this, London has five Tube lines that run 24-hour service on Fridays and Saturdays: Victoria, Central, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

That can't be right.

Surely some of those ultra 24/7 Asian mega-cities run their trains all night long too, right?

I don't think there are any 24/7 systems in Asia. I've been to Tokyo and Seoul so I can confirm first hand that those systems close around midnight - 1am. The systems in China likely close about the same time.

[jmecklenborg]

Everything is in retrograde so far as 24-hour activity. Dance clubs, bars, 24-hour diners are all in decline, all over the place.

There used to be such thing as an after-hours club but now there aren't even...clubs. There probably are still a handful of illegal after-hours bars but those weren't super-hard to hear about and get invited to in the recent past.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Though with only 1 train per hour overnight, it's not much better than the typical metro line that shuts down for 3-4 hours!

I think it sounds excellent considering that PATCO is more like an advanced suburban commuter line than a metro line. And there are a lot of commuter lines that don't even run more than hourly in daytime off-peak.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by craigs

Yes, the PATCO Speed Line runs 24 hours a day between the heart of Philadelphia and its New Jersey suburbs. There is one station in Center City that closes for four hours overnight, but the rest remain open all night.

yep looks like its back to 24hrs post covid — this was the latest schedule on the website—


http://ridepatco.org/pdf/PATCO_Timetable_2023-11-25.pdf

[Antares41]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Express service isn't 24/7 but all subway lines and stations have 24 hour service.

Yes 24 hrs., 7 days a week, 365 days. I believe the only time the system shutdown was for 9-11. Also I recalled a few lines were shut due to flooding after hurricane Sandy.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Antares41

Yes 24 hrs., 7 days a week, 365 days. I believe the only time the system shutdown was for 9-11. Also I recalled a few lines were shut due to flooding after hurricane Sandy.

There were system wide shutdowns for both Irene and Sandy. I think that was the only time there had been a system wide shutdown between 9/11 and COVID. The system had nightly shutdowns for the first 14 months of the pandemic. I think the system shutdown at midnight and restarted at 5am or so.

[Antares41]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

There were system wide shutdowns for both Irene and Sandy. I think that was the only time there had been a system wide shutdown between 9/11 and COVID. The system had nightly shutdowns for the first 14 months of the pandemic. I think the system shutdown at midnight and restarted at 5am or so.

Yes the COVID shutdown was the first planned shutdown in the 115 year history, which is quite amazing. It was done to disinfect the stations and the subway cars.

[BnaBreaker]

Originally Posted by streetscaper

According to this, London has five Tube lines that run 24-hour service on Fridays and Saturdays: Victoria, Central, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines

Hmm well to be fair it has been about ten years since I was there, so it wouldn't surprise me if my info were out of date... or hell maybe we just got the wrong info altogether.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

I mean, bus service probably makes more sense at night in most cases that don't involve water crossings or freeway median running. High capacity is not needed, and there is typically little traffic so the bus can be quite fast. Plus it makes it easier to do maintenance...

Buses also make more sense where rail networks are especially focused on getting people in and out of central business districts, like San Francisco and Los Angeles. Overnight riders are not going downtown--their destinations are more dispersed. So a citywide grid of overnight bus routes better serves riders in such cities.

[Steely Dan]

^ Yeah, I'd take a denser network of 24 hour bus routes over a few token 24 hour train lines, if it is only one or the other.

In Chicago's case, I'm not really sure why the CTA still runs the red and blue lines 24/7, other than "that's just what we've always done".

But those two trunk rail lines are supplemented by a grid of 18 24/7 bus routes, so it's a little of both here.


(not that it really matters personally to me anymore, because I'm old and middle class, and I'll simply get a ride share if I ever need transportation in the dead of the night, despite living only two blocks from the intersection of two different 24/7 bus routes)

[iheartthed]

NYC is somewhat of a case study in trains versus buses. Just about every section of the subway gets shutdown for a weekend about twice a year for maintenance. When that happens the MTA replaces the shutdown section of subway with buses to fill in the service gap. I've never seen the bus replacement service not be overwhelmed, and it's not for lack of planning. There will often be a dozen buses lined up to meet each incoming train, but the buses just can't easily absorb such an influx of passengers. And even despite the replacement shuttles being free, people will often cancel plans and stay home all weekend solely because their subway line is down for maintenance.