Ridership on D.C. Metro could be making a comeback after more than a year of pandemic lows.

On Sunday, July 4, Metro rail ridership topped 210,000 people, the highest single-day total since March 2020. Overall, Metro ridership levels have fallen about 85% since the beginning of the pandemic, and ridership has not reached the peaks seen in 2019. On July 4, 2019, there were more than 400,000 riders on Metro rail, according to WMATA ridership data.

Last year visitors were discouraged from gathering on the National Mall to watch fireworks on July 4 due to COVID restrictions on large gatherings.

Metro’s board of directors hopes to get more people back to riding the metro later this summer with a series of changes including extending operating hours to midnight on weekdays and 1 a.m. on weekends, providing more frequent trains during peak hours, and offering a flat $2-per-ride fee on the weekends.

In a February survey, metro riders said frequent cleaning, social distancing, and more frequent service during peak hours would get more people back to riding metro and bus.

“We cannot continue to operate a rail system at 15% of pre-COVID ridership levels… nor can we even be satisfied with a system that’s projected at 34% of pre-COVID levels by June 2022,” Michael Goldman, a metro board member, told DCist/WAMU back in April. “I think we need to get riders back on the rails and not staying home, not driving to work… because that is an option.”

This story has been updated with additional information about Metro’s efforts to raise ridership.