Our Metro station counted over 100,000 people today

[LiberalEsto]

This is a third-hand report, but for what it's worth:

My husband, MadDave, just got off the phone with a friend who went to the Stewart-Colbert rally in DC. He said the lines at the Shady Grove Metro station in Maryland this morning were unbelievable, with the line just to buy farecards reaching out of the station all the way past the bus stops. On the way home, our friend Marvin talked to a Metro station attendant who said they counted at least 100,000 riders just from this one station. The trains were packed, and people had problems getting close to the rally because it was so crowded on the Mall.

The Metro person told our friend that overall the Metro system transported at least 300,000 people downtown today. And that's not counting all those who arrived the night before and stayed in town, came by bus, walked from other parts of the city, etc. Metro has more than 80 stations, but Shady Grove is a key destination for many out-of-town buses that bring people to rallies in DC because it is the farthest west station on the Red Line.

Metro, however, did its usual best to make things worse things up by scheduling track repair work on several lines this weekend.

[niyad]

1. well, of course--after all, only teabaggers attend rallies

[Faygo Kid]

2. Yep. I was on the Red Line. Metro was overwhelmed. So was I.

I was on the other end; came down from Wheaton. Probably the greatest underreported story of the year will be this rally. The Post is desperately knocking the numbers down, and using early morning photos. It stretched from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, up 7th Street to F and beyond, and that's only what I saw. Every space on every step of every museum of the Smithsonian Museums - all of them - were also filled. You could not move on the Mall. Literally.

Don't let them lie to you. This was unbelievable.

[spooky3]

5. totally agree- we were there too

[AnnieBW]

3. I can imagine that Greenbelt was overwhelmed, too

That's the closest stop to my house. It's a big stop for buses coming down from the Northeast Corridor.

[spooky3]

4. Thanks for this very good info. We had the same experience on the yellow line.

[MindandSoul]

6. I was at the rally, but didn't take the metro, The first count was 150,000 people

but it seems like a lot more! I arrived at 10am on the mall, and was so far back from the stage already. . .about 150 feet from 7th street. And it was crowded, couldn't move, couldn't sit on the ground!

I do not believe the 150.000 number!

[Hekate]

7. Fan-freakin-tastic

:bounce: KnR

[Recursion]

8. I walked in to Columbia Heights and saw "Single tracking green line expect delays"

And nearly gave myself a bloody nose from the facepalm.

Columbia Heights' line just to get to the turnstyles went back to the escalators (they were limiting how many people could go through the turnstyles so that the platform didn't get overloaded). And it didn't move for a long time because all the trains coming through (every 12 minutes) were absolutely packed. I ended up walking.