Keeping Halloween Safe
Friday, October 30, 2009 1:34 PM
Halloween is not just for young kids, anymore.
This year, Americans will spend $3.3 billion on Halloween costumes, masks and decorations, according to the National Retail Federation and BIGresearch.
That's 5.4 percent more spending on Halloween than in 2004. The engine fueling this growth: Adults buying their own costumes.
"Halloween is no longer considered a children's holiday," Phil Rist of BIGresearch told USA Today. "It's one of those holidays where lots of people escape for a bit and become someone else for a day."
Transit agencies from coast to coast are adjusting schedules to accommodate all this partying. 
In Boston, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (the T) is adding extra trains and selling special event round-trip tickets to Salem, MA - a town about an hour's north of Boston which has a museum devoted to the witchcraft hysteria during Colonial times. Salem has town-wide celebrations called Haunted Happenings and is urging partygoers to take the T.
On the West coast, the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is adding extra cars to their trains to ease the crowds expected from Halloween parties.
Here at METRO, we'd like to encourage you to ride the rail if you plan on celebrating at the restaurants and bars downtown. The last northbound train from Fannin South departs at 1:40 a.m. The last southbound train departs from UH at 2:20 a.m. Click here for the rail schedule.
If you plan on drinking, the train is a safe way to get home or to your car where we hope you have a designated driver.
Happy Halloween - and stay safe around the ghosts and goblins.