At last week’s committee meetings, Metro officials floated the idea of cutting back late-night train hours from 3 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday nights to help close the agency’s yawning budget gap. This idea immediately prompted an outcry from the system’s night-owl riders, not to mention the restaurants, bars, and other businesses that could potentially suffer from the rollback. But what about another demographic that would presumably be affected – the area’s cab drivers, particularly those who cruise the city’s nightlife districts on the weekends?

A brief and unscientific survey of the hacks idling in the queue at Georgetown’s Washington Harbour indicates that most Washington cabbies would welcome this change in Metro hours. Indeed, most of the drivers consulted had already heard the news, and a few of them flashed a smile at the very thought of it.

“More business – a lot more business,” said Med, who, like every other cabbie who spoke, asked that his last name not be used.

Friday and Saturday are huge nights for the city’s drivers. According to Med, a lot of cabbies pull down 60 per cent or more of their fares working those two late-night, early-morning shifts, often pushing on until 5 a.m. because the money is so good. For a small percentage, those are the only shifts they work.

It’s not the volume of fares so much as the type that makes these hours a bonanza – bargoers tend to take long, pricey trips at the end of the night, from the District’s core out to Arlington, Montgomery, and Prince George’s County.

Those rides, of course, could increase dramatically if Metro stops late-night service. “And those are very good fares,” says Med, “because you’re taking highways.”

In fact, the fares can be so juicy that they prompt arguments between drivers and passengers, says another cabbie, Addis. “They don’t like how high it gets,” says Addis, adding that he gets in most of his tiffs during these shifts with drunk passengers. Still, he says these scuffles are a small inconvenience considering the payout. Addis, too, likes the idea of a cutback in Metro hours, and he doesn't believe the city's drivers would have trouble meeting the new demands.

“It’ll be good for taxis,” he says.

Alem, a driver with an eye for the big picture, says the cutbacks could certainly be a boon to drivers – but he thinks they would be unfortunate for the city generally. “That means good business,” he says of the hacks, “but it’s not good for the city. There will be less people coming in.”

Alem says that in the long run the cuts could hurt cabbies more than they realize. By way of explanation, he says that a lot of those big-ticket fares come from party folk who ride Metro into the city with every intention of riding it back out – only to get smashed, loosen the purse strings, and hail the first cab that rolls by. Alem fears that if Metro cuts back its hours, those people simply won’t venture into the city knowing they’ll have to snag a $30 ride at the end of the night.

"If they don’t come at all, then they don’t take that cab,” says Alem. “It’s not going to be positive for us at the end of the day.”