DC Metro Announces New Ridership Record for Stewart-Colbert Rally
Washington DC’s Metropolitan Area Transit Authority has announced that they set a new record for the highest Saturday Metrorail ridership last weekend, due to the Jon Stewart-Stephen Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear.
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.
As noted previously at LGF, CBS News commissioned a scientific estimate by AirPhotosLive.com, based on aerial photographs taken at around 2 pm, using the same methodology they used to calculate the crowd size for Glenn Beck’s 9/12 rally, and came up with the figure of 215,000.
Credit: AirPhotosLive.comMore of the photos used in AirPhotosLive’s analysis are here: Rally for ‘Sanity and/or Fear’ Pictures.
Frank says: