Metro News Release
For immediate release: June 19, 2008
Metrorail records sixth highest weekday ridership day
823,516 riders used Metrorail on Wednesday, June 18
Hundreds of thousands of people helped Metro set the transit agency’s sixth highest ridership day in the history of the 32-year-old rail system on Wednesday, June 18. Riders took 823,516 trips, which were 28,308 more trips than the same comparable day last year. No special events contributed to Wednesday’s high numbers.
Today is National Dump the Pump Day and Metro is holding an online contest for participants to guess what Metrorail ridership will be for the day. Anyone interested in taking a guess has until midnight tonight to complete the online form at http://www.wmata.com/events/dump_the_pump/dump_pump.cfm. The contest winner will receive a SmarTrip® card loaded with $100 value.
Since April of this year, Metrorail weekday ridership has cracked the top 10 highest ridership days in Metrorail history on seven separate occasions. Combined with Metrobus ridership, Metro provides more than 1.2 million trips on an average weekday.
Metrorail’s Top 10 Weekday Ridership Days
Date Ridership Event
1 06-09-04 850,636 Reagan State Funeral
2 04-03-07 831,508 Cherry Blossoms/Baseball
3 04-24-08 828,973 Baseball/Basketball
4 04-17-08 828,418 Pope Visit/Soccer
5 04-11-08 828,132 Hockey/Baseball/Cherry Blossoms
6 06-18-08 823,516 No event
7 04-10-06 821,283 Immigrant Rights Rally
8 06-05-08 819,687 Baseball
9 06-03-08 812,812 Baseball
10 06-17-08 812,686 No event
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News release issued at 9:28 am, June 19, 2008.