Metro News Release

For immediate release: July 16, 2008

Metrorail sets ninth highest ridership day

830,307 riders used Metrorail on Tuesday, July 15

Metrorail ridership continues to set new records. Hundreds of thousands of people helped Metro set the transit agency’s ninth highest ridership day in the history of the 32-year-old rail system on Tuesday, July 15. Riders took 830,307 trips, which were 32,295 more trips than the comparable day last year. No special events contributed to Tuesday’s high numbers.

So far this month, Metrorail weekday ridership has topped 800,000 trips eight times. In June, ridership surpassed the 800,000 mark on 12 separate occasions, making it the highest ridership month in Metrorail history. About 26,000 more people rode Metrorail on an average weekday this June compared to last June.

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     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     07-15-08     830,307     No event
10   06-20-08     829,998     Baseball/Basketball

News release issued at 1:36 pm, July 16, 2008.