Metro broke all ridership records by early Tuesday evening after hundreds of thousands of people who turned out for inaugural events jammed trains, packed station platforms and crowded onto stopped escalators.
As of 7 p.m. Metro had run at least 973,285 trips on its rail system. It was the system’s second record-setting day in a row as Metrorail smashed a high set in July by running 866,681 trips on Monday.
On Tuesday the transit system offered an unprecedented 22 hours of train service, including 19 hours of rush-hour schedules and more eight-car trains than ever to handle the crowds.
“Our Metro system wasn’t designed to transport this many people in such a short time, but we’re doing it,” General Manager John Catoe said Tuesday in a written statement. “There have been hiccups along the way, but we have been flexible and reacted as best and as quickly as we could given the unprecedented crowds and circumstances outside of Metro’s control.”
For many riders, their Metrorail trips involved long waits to get in and out of stations, then hot, packed cars after hours spent in the cold.
A 68-year-old woman fell onto the track at the Gallery Place/Chinatown station around 9:25 a.m. She had non-life threatening injuries after a transit officer helped her roll into a crawl space under the platform as a train passed. The accident temporarily stopped trains to some Red Line stations.
Metro’s biggest challenge was getting riders into and out of the trains and stations, especially at stops with only one exit.
Crowds were especially thick exiting the National Mall after President Barack Obama finished his inaugural speech. At the Federal Center station, a wall of people waited two hours to enter the station. Authorities let in groups, then stopped others until they could load onto trains so that the platforms weren’t flooded with crushing hordes. But families got split up, including one man who got separated from his 9-year-old sister.
Officials there had to carry a woman in a wheelchair down a stopped escalator. Others with canes and walkers struggled to get down on their own.
Meanwhile, officials had to communicate by yelling up the escalators when to let in more people.
At that point, many attendees were cold, tired, hungry and grumpy. Crowds outside the station turned angry and began chanting, “Let this side go” and “Move this crowd.”
“It was terrible, ridiculous,” said Christopher Cummings, 17, of Woodbridge, who came with his father, James. “We tried to beat it but we still got stuck. It was very disorganized.”
Yele Aluko, 54, also called it poorly organized. “But it was worth it,” the man from Charlotte, N.C., said. “Because we didn’t get hurt and we didn’t see anyone get trampled.”
Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said that station can handle only 8,000 people an hour. “It was never designed to carry those crowds,” she said. “A little station did a big job.”
But some of the biggest rush was expected in the evening after the parade ended as people who had trickled in all morning tried to leave at once after a long day, then others celebrated at balls and bars.
Wednesday and Thursday also could face higher ridership than usual as visitors leave the city and activists arrive for Thursday’s annual Right to Life march.
