The Metro Gold Line continues to experience major delays Thursday morning after wire damage put a stop to a southbound Gold Line train. Passengers were safely evacuated, and the agency hopes to restore services this afternoon. Meanwhile, riders can expect 20-minute delays.

People who take public transportation are no stranger to such delays. As Metro spokesperson Anna Chen puts it, they’re “just a fact of life.” But as it turns out, Metro offers help for dealing with the inconvenience: The agency will write you a note.

“Sometimes, we have delays in our service, which could be anything from power system issues, signaling issues or equipment malfunction,” said Chen. “And so for those people who need verification to go to work or school letting them know why they were late that day, Metro will offer to provide them with a form.”

Anyone could call the Metro’s customer relations hotline and request a letter. The caller only needs to provide a transit line, the trip direction and a time. Upon verification of the delay, a representative will email a note or mail out a letter with a Metro letterhead. This can take a day or up to three weeks, depending on whether a case needs to be investigated.

“Usually, I would assume, it’s students who need to take our system to get to classes,” said Chen. “We do have working professionals who can use the service as well.”

This post has been updated.

Have you gotten a tardy note from Metro? Will you consider using it in the future? Tell us in comments.