Washington's Metrorail runs Monday through Thursday from 5 a.m. to midnight, Friday from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., and Sunday from 6 a.m. to midnight. Trains run every 4 to 15 minutes depending on the line and time of day. There is no overnight service.
In brief
Washington's Metrorail runs Monday through Thursday from 5 a.m. to midnight, Friday from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., and Sunday from 6 a.m. to midnight. Trains arrive every 4 to 15 minutes depending on the line and time of day. There is no overnight service on any day of the week.
DC Metro hours at a glance
The current schedule, updated as of October 2026, is: Monday to Thursday, 5:00 a.m. to midnight; Friday, 5:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.; Saturday, 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m.; and Sunday, 6:00 a.m. to midnight. Those times reflect when the system opens and closes, not when the last train passes your specific station.
The closing time is when the system shuts, not when the last train passes your platform. Last trains depart terminal stations about 30 minutes before the system closes. If you are near the end of a line, plan accordingly.
The extended Friday and Saturday night schedule is a relatively recent addition. Starting June 22, 2025, the rail system began opening one hour earlier on Saturdays and Sundays at 6 a.m., and closing an hour later on Fridays and Saturdays at 2 a.m.
How often trains run, by line
Current frequencies by line are as follows: the Red Line runs every 5 minutes at rush hour and every 6 minutes midday; the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines run every 10 minutes at rush hour and every 12 minutes midday; the Green and Yellow lines run every 6 minutes at rush hour and midday. After 9:30 p.m., the Red Line drops to every 10 minutes and Blue, Orange, and Silver drop to every 15 minutes.
Effective June 23, 2025, Red Line trains run at least every 4 minutes during the busiest portions of weekday rush hours. That makes the Red Line the most frequent in the system.
Rush hour matters for more than just frequency. Rush hour runs roughly 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. on weekdays. Note this is not the same as the fare boundary, which is 9:30 p.m. Peak fares apply any time before 9:30 p.m. on weekdays, even during the quiet mid-morning.
The Silver Line split and other 2025 changes
The Silver Line now runs in two service patterns, with half of trains operating between Ashburn and Downtown Largo, and the other half between Ashburn and New Carrollton. During peak rush hours on weekdays, additional Silver Line trains run from Wiehle-Reston East to New Carrollton in the morning and from Stadium-Armory to Wiehle-Reston East in the afternoon.
Under the fiscal year 2027 budget that kicked in July 1, 2026, the Red, Green, and Yellow lines run every 6 minutes all day and the Blue, Orange, and Silver lines run every 10 minutes.
No overnight service
The system closes overnight every night, which is when track maintenance is done. There is no all-night Metro service in Washington. This is a firm policy, not a budget gap. Overnight track work is what keeps the system running safely during the day.
What the system looks like overall
The system has 6 lines, 98 stations, and logged daily weekday ridership of 675,100 in Q2 2026, with annual ridership of 188,549,700 in 2025. It opened in 1976 and now covers 130 miles of route. WMATA CEO Randy Clarke has led the agency since 2022.
For real-time service alerts, track work closures, and exact timetables by station, go directly to wmata.com/service/rail. Weekend maintenance often closes stations or forces single-tracking, so always check before you go.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
