Metrorail is by far the most convenient way to travel across DC, particularly for tourists.
A whopping 825,437 rides were taken on the DC Metro last Saturday, setting an all time record high for any event held in DC on a Saturday.
I guess Sanity is a lot more popular than the MSM counted on.
Metro sets new record for highest Saturday Metrorail ridership
Metro set a new record for highest Saturday Metrorail ridership on Saturday, October 30. Officials estimate 825,437 Metrorail trips were taken, with many people traveling to the National Mall for the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear."
In anticipation of the crowds, Metro added extra trains, and additional Metro personnel were on hand to assist customers at the fare gates and with purchasing fare cards. But because of the record setting ridership, Metro experienced unprecedented crowds throughout the day with long lines at many end-of-the-line stations early in the day as customers waited to enter the system.
Average Saturday Metrorail ridership is typically about 350,000. Yesterday’s record ridership surpassed the 1991 Desert Storm rally, which was held on June 8, 1991 and held the top spot for 19 years.
Combined with Metrobus ridership, Metro provides more than 1.2 million trips on an average weekday.
Metrorail’s Top Five Saturday Ridership Days
10/30/10 825,437 Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear
06/08/91 786,358 Desert Storm
10/04/97 725,909 Promise Keepers
04/04/09 713,148 Cherry Blossoms/Baseball/Basketball/Soccer
04/03/10 674,173 Cherry Blossoms/Baseball/Soccer
http://www.wmata.com/...
The Rally to Restore Sanity had the highest Metro ridership of all time.
As cited in the article, the Average Saturday Metrorail Ridership is 350,000.
825,437 - 350,000 = 475,437 additional rides took place on the Metro this Saturday.
How does it compare to Glenn Beck's Rally which was also held on a Saturday?
Beck's Rally - "Metro announced Monday that it tallied 510,000 trips on Saturday."
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/...
510,000 - 350,000 = a mere 160,000 rides occured on the Metro during Beck's Rally.