Metro ready for 1.6 million on trains, buses

Metro officials say they can carry up to 1.6 million people on the system’s trains and buses on Tuesday as crowds come to witness Barack Obama’s swearing-in as president.

But it isn’t clear how many people that really means, since the Metro system counts rides, not people. One person who takes Metrorail into the city for the inauguration, then back home, counts twice. Someone who takes three trips — to downtown, then to an inauguration party, and back home — would count three times.