“If we save one or two lives [with the Night Owl], I think that demonstrates a good use of the money,” said Ross, who represents parts of Beacon Hill, Back Bay, the Fenway, and Allston, all of which are littered with residents of college students at Boston College, Boston University, and Harvard.

“If it was primarily being used by college students, I see that as a good thing,” said Hathaway Fiocchi, a researcher at the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG).

In March, before the Night Owl had been cancelled, Fiocchi authored a report defending the service. Her report noted that among the country’s eleven largest public transit systems, only Boston and Atlanta lacked 24-hour service during the weekend.

According to the MBTA, alternative ways of providing late-night service—such as running subways into the early morning—remain unfeasible.

The MBTA maintains that 24-hour subway service is an impossibility in Boston. Unlike subways in New York, which can run on local and express tracks, Boston subways have only one track, meaning that subway traffic must stop for maintenance.

“Those hours between 1 a.m. and 5:30 am are an absolutely critical time...not only to do work [on the tracks], but inspect them,” Pesaturo, the MBTA spokesman, said. “It’s the only time the crews can get out on the right of way.”

—Staff writer Brendan R. Linn can be reached at blinn@fas.harvard.edu.