Metro News Release
For immediate release: July 18, 2003
Up, up, and away: Thursday’s Metrorail ridership tops 700,000
For third time this week
Yesterday’s Metrorail ridership of 716,227 was the 6th highest ridership in Metrorail history, marking the fifth day this month that ridership has made the top 26 highest ridership days list and the fourth day this month that ridership has topped 700,000. It is also the third day this week that ridership surpassed the 700,000 mark.
An average weekday usually sees Metrorail ridership in the 650,000 to 670,000 range. The majority of riders travel during the morning and afternoon commute times; however, during mid-day and evening hours, the Metrorail system has much more capacity to carry customers. Weekends also tend to see considerably fewer riders in the Metrorail system, with fewer than 300,000 customers, another time when there is plenty of room to ride on Metrorail.
Metrorail’s High Ridership Days Including this Month
| Rank | Date | Ridership* | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-20-93 | 811,257 | Clinton Inauguration |
| 2 | 10-16-95 | 804,146 | Million Man March |
| 3 | 6-25-03 | 726,789 | No Event |
| 4 | 6-26-03 | 724,507 | No Event |
| 5 | 4-15-02 | 718,747 | Pro Israel Rally |
| 6 | 7-17-03 | 716,227 | No Event |
| 11 | 7-16-03 | 708,944 | No Event |
| 15 | 7-15-03 | 704,175 | No Event |
| 20 | 7-11-03 | 700,167 | No Event |
| 26 | 7-9-03 | 697,088 | No Event |
News release issued on July 18, 2003.