Metro News Release

For immediate release: July 14, 2008

Metrorail sets new record for highest ridership day of all time


854,638 riders used Metrorail on Friday, July 11

Hundreds of thousands of people helped Metro set a new record for the transit agency’s highest ridership day in the history of the 32-year-old rail system on Friday, July 11. Riders took 854,638 trips, which were 62,985 more trips than the comparable day last year. The Washington Nationals baseball game, Women of Faith Conference and tourists contributed to Friday’s high numbers.

Twenty of Metrorail’s top 25 highest weekday ridership days have occurred since April of this year. Combined with Metrobus ridership, Metro provides more than 1.2 million trips on an average weekday.

Metrorail’s Top 25 Weekday Ridership Days 
       Date             Ridership  Event
1     07-11-08     854,638     Baseball/Women of Faith Conference
2     06-09-04     850,636     Reagan State Funeral
3     06-25-08     846,388     Smithsonian Folklife Festival/Baseball
4     07-10-08     844,530     Baseball
5     07-08-08     835,072     Baseball/Basketball
6     07-02-08     834,956     Smithsonian Folklife Festival
7     04-03-07     831,508     Cherry Blossoms/Baseball
8     06-24-08     831,464     Baseball/Basketball
9     06-20-08     829,998     Baseball/Basketball
10   04-24-08     828,973     Baseball/Basketball
11   04-17-08     828,418     Pope Visit/Soccer
12   04-11-08     828,132     Baseball/Cherry Blossoms
13   06-27-08     825,862     Smithsonian Folklife Festival/Baseball
14   06-18-08     823,516     No Event
15   07-01-08     822,931     No Event
16   04-10-06     821,283     Immigrant Rights Rally
17   06-19-08     819,979     No Event
18   06-26-08     819,722     Smithsonian Folklife Festival
19   06-05-08     819,687     Baseball
20   06-03-08     812,812     Baseball
21   06-17-08     812,686     No Event
22   07-09-08     812,010     Baseball
23   01-20-93     811,257     Clinton Inaugural 1
24   03-31-06     808,108     Cherry Blossoms
25   07-03-08     807,729     Smithsonian Folklife Festival

News release issued at 12:34 pm, July 14, 2008.