Metro News Release

For immediate release: June 16, 2009

'Dump the Pump' and take Metro on June 18

A commuter's nightmare featured in Metro's latest video

Take Metro and put your mind at ease on National Dump the Pump Day, Thursday, June 18, and every day. Skip the traffic, reduce harmful toxic emissions, avoid road rage and keep more of your hard-earned cash instead of feeding it to the gas pump.

In the spirit of 'Dump the Pump' Metro has released a short video featuring a commuter’s nightmare filled with images of a gas pump ticking higher and higher, bumper-to-bumper traffic, red signals and angry drivers. The distraught commuter wakes up, looks around, realizes she’s riding Metro, smiles and relaxes, knowing that she’s doing her part to save money and save the planet.

Metro is encouraging Washington-area residents to leave their vehicles at home and take Metrobus or Metrorail for the annual National Dump the Pump Day on Thursday. Sponsored by the American Public Transportation Association, the 2009 National Dump the Pump Day is a day for people across the country to join together and ride public transportation to conserve gasoline, help reduce greenhouse gases and save money.

Metrorail and Metrobus provide more than 1.2 million trips on an average weekday. Metro reduces the region’s carbon footprint by taking more than 500,000 cars off the road each weekday, eliminating more than 1 million tons of pollutants from the air each year and saving the region 75 million gallons of gasoline annually.

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Media contact for this news release: Cathy Asato or Lisa Farbstein at 202-962-1051.

News release issued at 1:35 pm, June 16, 2009.