Metro will spend $250,000 to accommodate the crushing crowds expected to swarm the transit system this week during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Washington.
The transit agency will operate continuous rush-hour service until 7 p.m. Thursday — the day of the 10 a.m. Papal Mass at Nationals Park — but will charge nonpeak fares from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Metro will have extra station managers, rail supervisors and transit police officers at the Navy Yard station, which serves the ballpark, and will have volunteer personnel on hand at 13 other high-traffic stations.
Metro staff told members of a board of directors committee last week that neither the Vatican nor the Archdiocese of Washington has offered to help foot the $250,000 bill for the pope’s visit, but noted that Metro frequently carries extra riders to various regional events.
“We could have buckets out at station entrances,” board member Gordon Linton said jokingly.
Metro spokeswoman Candace Smith said the agency only charges organizations that ask Metro to open earlier than usual or stay open late, and said the agency may recover the $250,000 tab through the fares from the extra riders.
About 24,000 people are expected to take Metro to the event, cramming onto trains during the already crowded morning rush hour. Ticket holders must be inside the stadium by 8:30 a.m.
“Our riders can expect parking lots to fill earlier than usual on Thursday, heavy crowds at the end-of-the-line stations in the early morning, riders who are unfamiliar with traveling on Metro and generally very crowded conditions,” Metro General Manager John Catoe said.
Metrobus routes A9, P17, P18, P19, W13 and W14 will be detoured the morning of the Mass, officials said.
Routes 32, 34, 35, 36, 38, 80 and routes 80, H1, H2, H3 and H4 will be detoured Wednesday before and after the pope’s visit to the White House and his visit to the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on Michigan Avenue in Northeast, respectively.
