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You're out with your friends or family,
having a good time,

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enjoying a night downtown,
and suddenly it's cut short

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because you have to rush to catch the last
subway the early shutdown leaves

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night owls and late night workers
scrambling for a way home.

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But could that be changing?

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Transportation editor
Jason Margolis joined us with the latest.

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All right, Jason, say it.

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So the T is going to run late? Yes.

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Maybe. Doubtful. Doubtful.

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So a lot of people want it.

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There's a clamor for it from late night
workers.

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And we're talking
people who work in restaurants and bars,

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hotels,
also janitors, health care workers.

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So there's been a lot of

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demand for it.

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However, the big problem is money, right?

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When you say the big problem is money,

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that seems to be all of the problems
when it comes to the trains.

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But to give an idea,

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is it not enough people are riding
or the trains would need more repair?

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Where would the money be going? Exactly.

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Not enough people writing.

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So does it make sense to have a subway
operating with a handful of people on it?

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No, it does not.

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Now, the normal service during the day
when it's packed during rush hour,

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that is still a money loser. It's
wait a second.

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When it's when the trains are packed
during the day that some money lose.

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Well overall overall,

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so about 20% of the budget
that the T runs on comes from revenue.

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What you and I pay to board that train,
the rest comes mostly from sales taxes.

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But but if you think about it,
if you have hundreds of people

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on that train,
you're still you know, it's doing well.

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There's different ratios.

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It's you know, it's
it's it's paying enough for itself.

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But if you have 2 or 3 people on a bus
at night, is it worth it?

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You know,
you got to make the economic calculus.

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What time have the trains and busses
been stopping or not running past?

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of late?

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So it depends on what line you're on
and what day of the week.

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So I know I take the Green Line every day.

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And at the last train out on the D line
is 1215.

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Some busses around midnight, 1215
as late as 1 a.m..

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But you know, I've worked the 4 p.m.,
the midnight shift, and you know, I'm

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running out the door to catch my train.

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And a lot of people, you know,

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they're they're running
to make that last train or bus.

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So if there are people who need it,
you've mentioned health care workers.

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You've you've mentioned, you know, bar
bartenders, waitstaff, etcetera.

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Is that enough pressure
to bring about change?

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Because it would stand to reason that if
you're out late at a bar, the last thing

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if you've been having a good time
or if you've been consuming alcohol,

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the last thing that the city would want
you to do is to hop into a car.

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So wouldn't that be enough incentive
for the trains to run?

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Right? So you bring up some good points.
So it's a fairness issue.

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So just because you and I might not work a
9 to 5 shift,

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why should we have access to this public
good that other people do not?

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It's also something that benefits
all of us.

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You and I are a lot safer if we don't have
people driving drunk, right?

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I mean that that's a good for all of us.

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Or look at it from a climate issue.

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If we have less people driving their cars

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and relying on public transportation,
that's less greenhouse gas emissions.

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So we all benefit.

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Yes. The person who actually getting that
late night ride, it benefits the most,

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but we're all benefiting from the trains
and the busses running longer.

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What kind of research was done
for this, story?

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Who who was spoken
to? Who was interviewed?

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How did all of this come together? Where?

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The answer now
just turns into money, right?

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So Shannon Larson,
our transportation reporter.

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came up with the story because Phil Ng,
the general manager of the mBTA,

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he was on GBH and someone asked him,
would you consider late night service?

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And he said, yeah, I would consider it.

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And then the Pandora's box. Yeah.

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Everyone wild like late night service
coming back.

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So Shannon went out and interviewed,

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Phil Ng,
and he said, well, it's a possibility.

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he's he has his eyes on the future.

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He didn't say it's going to happen.

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He said, there's a long road ahead.

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This is a story

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that your department will be covering
because it's not going away, is it?

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It's not going away.

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And people are interested
and it matters a lot to a lot of people.

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And I should say, you know, for people,

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a lot of people, low income workers,
this is a lifeline.

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Like if you missed that last train
and you have to get a taxi or an Uber

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and you're making minimum wage,
that's a big deal.

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Thank you for putting a human face
on that, because I do think you're right.

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That does go overlooked.

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We think of it as like, oh, I can't
I got to leave the bar.

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But there are people that are working jobs
where the cost of an Uber or a taxi

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or what have you is much more expensive
than what the train would cost.

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Transportation Editor Jason Margolis,
thank you so much for joining us.

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Well,
thank you for having me. Appreciate it.

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