Metro News Release
For immediate release: March 25, 2004
Metro announces preliminary service plans to support The National World War II Memorial dedication ceremony
At today’s Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) Board Operations and Safety Committee meeting, Metro officials outlined preliminary service plans to support the National World War II Memorial Dedication Ceremony scheduled on Saturday, May 29.
The World War II Memorial dedication is part of a four-day event beginning on Thursday, May 27, and concluding on Sunday, May 30. The celebration will feature several events including a reunion, a memorial service and a major dedication ceremony, which is scheduled for Saturday, May 29. These events are being coordinated by the American Battle Monuments Commission and the Smithsonian Institution.
With public transportation expected to play a pivotal role in moving hundreds of thousands of people to and from these events, Metro is planning to support this special ceremony with the following service on Saturday, May 29:
Metrorail will operate on a modified schedule with six-car trains operating every 10 minutes from the end of each rail line and every five minutes in the downtown portion of the rail system.
Metro will have special uniformed information personnel available to answer questions and assist customers at key stations throughout the rail system, and a special command center will be open to monitor the days events.
Metro and local bus properties will operate more than 400 shuttle buses to and from the dedication ceremony to the Stadium-Armory, Pentagon, L’Enfant Plaza, Farragut West, Foggy Bottom-GWU, Metro Center, and Smithsonian Metrorail stations. Technicians will be available throughout the day to ensure operations on the elevators, which are expected to have a high usage that day. Metro is currently working with the event organizers, the National Park Service, Federal Transit Administration, the American Public Transportation Association, the District of Columbia’s Mayor’s Special Event Task Force, and local bus properties to ensure successful transportation operations of this special event.
"This occasion marks another opportunity for Metro to showcase its safe, convenient, and reliable transportation services in support of an important national event," said Richard A. White, Metro’s General Manager and CEO. "The nation’s capital is a natural magnet for the large number of rallies, marches, and ceremonies which often take place in the city, and Metro is the best logical transportation choice for these participants. We will be ready to provide the best possible service to support the National World War II Memorial dedication for those people attending this event as well as our regular customers," Mr. White added.
Organizers are expecting hundreds of thousands to attend this special event, with 4,800 attendees in wheelchairs. Metrorail provides approximately 250,000 passenger trips on an average Saturday when there’s no special event. (The largest number of people ever carried in the system was 811,257 passengers for President Clinton’s first inauguration in 1993. The largest Saturday crowd on Metrorail was 786,358 for June 8, 1991.)
News release issued on March 25, 2004.