WASHINGTON: Rally For Sanity Smashes All-Time Metro Ridership Record

[WillParkinson]

WASHINGTON: Rally For Sanity Smashes All-Time Metro Ridership Record

Yesterday's Rally For Sanity broke Washington's all-time record for Metro ridership on a Saturday.

By preliminary estimates, Metro recorded 825,437 Metrorail trips on Saturday. Whether it served any of those riders very well is different question. The demand for public transit to attend the Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear -- hosted by Comedy Central duo Stewart and Colbert -- exceeded supply. Metro customers suffered long waits at various Metro stations throughout the city. Several even suffered injuries. Nevertheless, the new record fairly shattered the old record, set on June 8, 1991, when Washington played host to a victory celebration for U.S. troops who served in the First Gulf War. That day Metro recorded 786,358 trips. A 1997 Promise Keepers rally in the District has the third-place record, with 735,909 trips.

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/10/washington-rally-for-sanity-smashes-all.html

[aquart]

1. They do about 350,000 normally. So the rest is our gravy.

Plus the ones who biked, walked, crawled.

[DangerousRhythm]

2. So if they have these trips on record and it's up a certain average from usual ridership...

...how come the media is saying 215k attended?

These numbers would indicate a GREAT deal more in attendance, no?

[TicketyBoo]

3. It's quite possible

that individuals rode the Metro more than once (to and from, for example).

[Tesha]

7. The Media realizes that is was just a bunch of paid MoveOn volunteers riding the rails all day...

...in an effort to falsely inflate the rally's attendence
numbers.

"Oh he'll ride forever 'neath the streets of D.C.,
he's the man from MoveOn dot Org!"

http://www.mit.edu/~jdreed/t/charlie.html

Tesha

[tinrobot]

4. We were packed in like sardines on the way to the rally

We left thousands standing on the platform at the stations closer in.

[madokie]

5. And the teevee man tells me the pukes are coming out on top tomorrow

methinks they lie

[era veteran]

6. Just to clarify, largest Saturday ridership, #2 overall

"The all-time record for ridership on the Metro rail system is 1,120,000, recorded on Jan. 20, 2009 -- the date of President Obama's inauguration." It was an experience to be on the Metro that day. It was more crowed afterword on my trips. We were on the 2nd train in the AM @ the 2nd stop and it was SRO then!!!