Metro Officials Expect 10,000 Charter Buses

Metro officials said they are expecting 10,000 charter buses, carrying an estimated 500,000 people, to arrive in the Washington area for President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration on Jan. 20. But the transit agency will only be able to handle parking for about one-third of the charter buses. The remaining buses will have to be routed to parking lots throughout the region, and those passengers will have to be ferried downtown by shuttle bus or train, or will have to walk.

Only some Metro parking lots have bus capacity. The Pentagon Metrorail station, will not be available for buses because parade staging for marching bands will be taking place there. Other parking lots that are under consideration include RFK Stadium, Nationals Park, FedEx Field and Six Flags. Officials said the University of Maryland College Park also is likely to rent out space on its campus for charter bus parking.

Additional charter buses may be directed to Virginia Railway Express stations.

Starting next week, Metro will also be running more eight-car trains on the Green Line during rush hour. The transit agency will be putting additional rail cars into service by the end of the year, in preparation for ramped up service on Inauguration Day.

Eight-car trains require more power for operation; Metro can currently run every third train as an eight-car train during rush hour, but by the end of December, the agency will be running eight-car trains with greater frequency than every third train.

By Lena Sun

By David A Nakamura  |  December 3, 2008; 5:52 PM ET  | Category:  Transportation
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