As demonstrators filled the National Mall on Saturday for the Women’s March on Washington, Metro rail clocked its second-highest daily ridership level ever, with 1,001,613 trips, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority reported.
The only day to draw more riders to the system was Jan. 20, 2009, the day of former President Barack Obama’s first inauguration, when the system saw 1.12 million trips.
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Saturday’s ridership also far outpaced the numbers for President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday, which drew 570,557 passenger trips, according to WMATA.
WMATA General Manager and CEO Paul J. Wiedefeld praised employees for their work over the weekend.
“We can all feel proud of providing safe, reliable service for large numbers of riders over two consecutive days on a world stage,” he wrote.
He added that Metro, which has faced a series of safety and reliability challenges, “demonstrated to the region and riders from across the nation that we are capable of delivering world-class service.”
The Metro ridership numbers are one barometer by which to measure event crowd sizes — a contentious topic as Trump and his aides push back against media reports about how much smaller the crowd was for Trump’s inauguration than for Obama’s inauguration in 2009. He dispatched his press secretary, Sean Spicer, to the White House briefing room on Saturday evening to complain about coverage — a move that also led to a series of false claims by Spicer.
Politics
Millions join Trump protest marches around the globe
And Trump expressed divergent views on participants in the Women’s March on Sunday.
He first wrote on Twitter: “Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly.”
He later followed up with another Twitter post: “Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views.”
The Women’s March on Washington was one of many such protests that took place in cities across the U.S. and the world.
