After a very slow July in which bus and rail ridership dropped steeply compared to the same month in 2009, WMATA had a slightly better August, but is still below projected levels, according to the Examiner. In August, rail ridership was up 600,000 over August 2009; this is a reversal from July, which brought a 300,000-rider decrease. August bus ridership was still way down, though, falling about 700,000 riders short of August 2009's mark. Even with the slight bump in rail ridership, WMATA is still about 2 million bus trips and 500,000 rail trips short of their budgeted projections through the first two months of their fiscal year, which starts in July. The transit agency blames the economy for the slowdown -- while that's certainly one piece of the pie, it'd be silly to discount the role that large fare increases, safety concerns, extensive delays over long weekends and other factors might be playing in the decline. more ›

It's kind of a misnomer, seeing as how on any given day and depending on what's happening around the District, any Metrorail station could be the "busiest" in the system. Regardless, the Washington Business Journal reports that based on average weekday ridership in May, Union Station comes out on top -- the station handled 32,745 riders per day on average. more ›

The numbers are out! WMATA says that Metro recorded 510,000 trips on Saturday -- a definite uptick from the previous three Saturdays, in which the transit system averaged 348,593 riders, but hardly the apocalyptic figure that some were predicting. (For comparison, on President Barack Obama's Inauguration Day, the busiest day in the system's history, Metrorail logged 1,120,000 trips.) But what about all those people who gained access to the system when managers at the Smithsonian and Foggy Bottom-GWU stations opened the faregates to relieve overcrowding? Metro spokesperson Ron Holzer said that those riders "were taken into consideration" in the figure that Metro reported. more ›

In case you hadn't already noticed that Washington, D.C. is currently chock-a-block with tourists, WMATA shares that Thursday actually marked its second highest weekday ridership ever. The Metrorail system saw a whopping 877,890 trips on Thursday, thanks to a combination of the peak of the National Cherry Blossom Festival and a sold-out Washington Capitals game. The figure is second only to Jan. 20, 2009, the day of President Obama's inauguration. more ›

Metrorail ridership actually increased during the first half of this month, possibly signaling a return to normal (or even above-normal) levels for the first time since the deadly June 22 Red Line crash. more ›

Not exactly a shock, but WMATA has released its Metrorail ridership figures for the recent winter storm period, and yesterday saw the lowest number of rides in the system in recent years. Only 36,097 trips were taken on Wednesday, Feb. 10, smashing the previous record low of only 56,326, recorded on Christmas Day, 2006. more ›

The Examiner's Kytja Weir reports today that WMATA is looking at laying off about 60 employees, as well as eliminating an additional 90 positions that are not currently filled. The move is of course part of Metro's still-evolving plan to cover an unexpected $40 million budget gap — a plan that now seems likely to include some service cuts and/or a sudden 10-cent surcharge on all fares. "The layoffs and job cuts are slated to primarily hit administrative workers, but some who make the trains and buses run could also be canned, said Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel. The exact jobs to be cut are still being determined, he said, but the pink slips are due by the end of March." more ›

Absolutely zero surprise here: WMATA says the Metrorail system recorded high ridership on both Saturday and Sunday. If anything, we would have thought it might have been a little higher. This weekend marked the third highest Saturday and fourth highest Sunday ridership days in the history of Metro. Riders took 713,148 trips on Saturday and 469,751 trips on Sunday, both figures that are well over 200,000 higher than the same days last year. We always enjoy WMATA's press shop's inclusion with these announcements of the events going on when previous records were set. Sunday ridership records are obvious: the highest was the weekend of President Obama's Inauguration, and second and third are both Fourth of July related. But the Saturday records are more surprising: the top spot still belongs to the 1991 Desert Storm victory rally, and the second the 1997 Promise Keepers march. more ›

In case we haven't been doing a good enough job drilling it into your head, public transportation has become increasingly popular in the D.C. metro area since gas prices have been going through the roof. Today, WMATA announced that Friday, July 11 saw the Metrorail system hit a brand new all-time record high for ridership, surpassing even that of the day of Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004. What contributed to the 854,638 passengers who rode Metro on Friday? There was a Nationals game, and there was a large convention in town. But there are Nationals games all the time, and there are large conventions in town near every weekend. The message of this news shouldn't be that unusual circumstances led to a new record; it should be that this was more or less a regular summer day, and Metro smashed its old record. more ›

It's becoming so commonplace for us to receive press releases about how Metro has recorded yet another record ridership day, we're in danger of starting to think these figures aren't that significant -- but that would be a big mistake. Dr. Gridlock noted on Monday that since April alone, nine dates had made their way into Metro's top dozen for ridership, which included last Friday. Now, make that ten.

Hundreds of thousands of people helped Metro set the transit agency’s third highest ridership day in the history of the 32-year-old rail system on Tuesday, June 24. Riders took 831,464 trips, which were 48,534 more trips than the same comparable day last year.

Where have you gone, Louie Gohmert? Way back, you said that "Washington, D.C. is also the only city in the entire country that every senator and every member of Congress has a vested interest in seeing that it works properly, that water works, sewer works, and no other city in America has that." more ›