(Photo by Tim Brown)

In addition to attracting star power with significantly higher wattage, the Women’s March on Washington appears poised to dwarf Donald Trump’s inauguration in terms of sheer numbers, too. There are nearly five times more buses registered to park on Saturday than Friday.

A month ago, city officials said they were expecting around 1,500 buses. But as of Tuesday, just 435 charter buses have permits to park on Friday, about half of them in the sea of asphalt around RFK Stadium and the other half in lots and spaces around the city, according to the District’s Department of Transportation. At least a dozen of them are coming to shuttle people to protests organized by DisruptJ20, the ANSWER Coalition, and other groups.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, there a total of 2,066 buses registered to bring rally-goers for the Women’s March on Washington, according to figures collected by DDOT. EventsDC, which is handling permits at RFK for the day, said they filled all 1,200 spots available at the stadium by last Tuesday. WMATA, U Street Parking, and other private companies are also providing parking elsewhere in and around the city.

Predicting crowd sizes is a deeply imperfect science, but buses offer one of the few concrete measurements to gauge participation.

For President Barack Obama’s record-breaking first inauguration, more than 3,000 chartered buses were registered and officials estimated attendance at around 1.8 million people.

When planning for this year’s events, the District’s Department of Homeland Security looked at past inaugurations and previous large-scale rallies to put high-end estimates of 800,000 to 900,000 for inauguration and 450,000 to 500,000 for the march. If charter bus figures are any indication, though, those figures are more likely to be reversed (and lower).

“That may be or may not be the amount that we have,” HSEMA director Christopher Geldart diplomatically told DCist, declining to speculate about what the bus registrations could indicate for crowd sizes on either day (crowd estimates, in general, are an extremely touchy issue). He said the agency hasn’t revised its projections based on more recent data.

Either way, Geldart emphasizes, the city is prepared. “We’re used to doing these kinds of things,” he says. Major rallies regularly come through town and even the annual 4th of July celebration typically draws in 350-400,000 people, depending on the weather.

With a forecast of rain on Friday, that could further depress inauguration turnout. Saturday, meanwhile, is expected to be dry and nearly 10 degrees warmer.

So it would strongly appear that the president-elect’s claim on Twitter that “people are pouring into Washington in record numbers” has roughly the same veracity as his boast to the New York Times that “all the dress shops are sold out in Washington.”

Several stores told ELLE they’ve seen fewer shoppers than they expected for inauguration. And even if attendance figures on Friday hit the highest estimate, “it’s not even close to a record,” an expert on inauguration history told McClatchy.

Meanwhile, the Women’s March on Washington is poised to exceed its early estimates. Organizers received a permit for 200,000 people, but the buses alone will bring well over 100,000. In total, more than 450,000 said they are either going or “interested” on Facebook.

Recognizing there will be a huge influx of people on Saturday, Metro announced yesterday that it would open two hours early and add trains on the Red, Orange, and Yellow lines.

“Metro heard from lots of customers about the need for additional service this weekend and worked quickly to respond,” said Ward 2 councilmember and chairman of WMATA’s board Jack Evans.

In more anecdotal evidence, souvenir vendors told The Washington Post’s Express that sales of Trump-themed merchandise have been slow thus far. Meanwhile, a pop-up shop in Adams Morgan called The Outrage has had a line up the block day and night. They’re selling tank tops that say “not my president” and t-shirts that read “the future is female.”