Metro set a new record for Saturday trips on Metrorail on Saturday, October 30 -- a record that surely belongs to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
By preliminary estimates, Metro recorded 825,437 Metrorail trips on Saturday.
Whether it served any of those riders very well is different question. The demand for public transit to attend the Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear -- hosted by Comedy Central duo Stewart and Colbert -- exceeded supply. Metro customers suffered long waits at various Metro stations throughout the city.
Several even suffered injuries.
Nevertheless, the new record fairly shattered the old record, set on June 8, 1991, when Washington played host to a victory celebration for U.S. troops who served in the First Gulf War. That day Metro recorded 786,358 trips.
A 1997 Promise Keepers rally in the District has the third-place record, with 735,909 trips.
Though Stewart and Colbert were big draws on Saturday, the population of the District and its reliance on Metro is increasing. Both the fourth- and fifth-place records for Metro ridership on a Saturday were set by recent Cherry Blossom Festivals: April 4 in 2009 and April 3 in 2010.
