Metro News Release
For immediate release: January 16, 2009
Metro outlines Sunday, Monday Inauguration-related service plans
Metro to operate July 4th-style service levels on Sunday, Metrorail to stay open until 2 a.m. on Monday
Metro will operate additional trains, offer reduced fares and free parking on Sunday, January 18, and Monday, January 19, of Inauguration Weekend. Metrorail also will stay open until 2 a.m. on Monday, January 19.
Sunday, January 18
Metrorail will open at 7 a.m., close at midnight and charge off-peak fares throughout the day. Parking at Metrorail station parking lots will be free, though cars may not park overnight.
In anticipation of large crowds attending the Inauguration Opening Ceremony, Metrorail will operate extra rail service similar to a July 4th service pattern. From 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., all trains will operate every six minutes from the ends of the lines and every three to four minutes in the downtown core of Washington. If necessary, extra trains will be placed into service to accommodate the crowds attending the Inauguration Opening Ceremony. Metro will operate a combination of six- and eight-car trains throughout the day.
Patrons attending the Inauguration opening ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial are encouraged to use the Farragut North, Metro Center, Farragut West, McPherson Square, Federal Triangle, Smithsonian, L’Enfant Plaza and Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter Metrorail stations. Due to the closure of Arlington Memorial Bridge to automobile and pedestrian traffic, Blue Line riders who may have been planning to exit at the Arlington Cemetery Metrorail station must stay on their train and exit at a downtown Washington train station to get to the events as they will not be able to cross the bridge. However, the Arlington Cemetery Metrorail station will remain open. The Theodore Roosevelt Bridge also is closed to traffic, but pedestrians are permitted to cross.
Metrobus will operate on a Sunday schedule with extra bus service available to Dulles International Airport via the 5A route and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport via the B30 route.
Patrons using Metrobus in downtown DC may face delays due to crowded roads and detours.
MetroAccess will provide its regular service, however patrons may experience delays in the downtown Washington are due to traffic conditions and road closures.
Monday, January 19
Due to the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday the Metrorail system will operate on a Saturday schedule, opening at 5 a.m. and closing at 2 a.m. early on the morning of January 20. Off-peak fares will be charged and parking at Metrorail station parking facilities will be free due to the holiday, though there will be no overnight parking. Throughout the day, Metro will operate a combination of six- and eight-car trains. If necessary, depending on the size of crowds, Metro will place additional trains in service.
After midnight, all Red Line trains will operate 15 minutes apart, and all Blue, Orange, Yellow and Green Line trains will operate 20 minutes apart.
Due to security measures related to an Inauguration event, the Judiciary Square Metrorail station’s F Street entrance will close at 7 p.m. The 4th Street entrance will be open for patrons to enter and exit all day until close.
Automobiles will not be permitted to enter Metro parking lots after 11 p.m. on Monday, January 19. Vehicles parked at Metro lots must leave by 2 a.m. or by the time the station closes, soon after 2 a.m. or risk being ticketed and towed. Metro’s parking lots will reopen at 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 20.
Metrobus and MetroAccess will operate on a regular weekday schedule. Some bus routes and MetroAccess routes in downtown Washington may face delays due to traffic conditions.
People can sign up for special e-alerts, dedicated to the Inauguration, on Metro’s Web site at http://www.wmata.com/inauguration. E-alerts will be issued when Metro has news relating to service for the Inauguration, and, perhaps more importantly, when there may be service disruptions during the course of the four-day Inauguration Weekend.
News release issued at 10:12 am, January 16, 2009.