Transit

Many holidays look like weekends on Metro

by David Alpert   •   October 29, 2012 3:10 pm

WMATA's planning department has started posting more graphs and charts of ridership data, like one today changes in ridership over 5 years. A few recent charts show how holiday ridership compares to regular weekdays, Saturdays, or Sundays.

On holidays like MLK Day and Presidents' Day, when most offices are closed, Metro runs a Saturday schedule. That seems sensible, because the ridership pattern across the day closely resembles the typical Saturday.

Images from WMATA.

When the federal government is closed but most private companies still have work, like Columbus Day and Veterans' Day, Metro runs a Saturday schedule with extra peak service. Then, the ridership graph looks like a blend between the Saturday and typical weekday pattern:

On some of the holidays where virtually everyone is off and people generally travel, like Thanksgiving, Memorial Day and Labor Day, Metro runs on a Sunday schedule. The ridership pattern looks a lot like a typical Sunday as well, except Thanksgiving where it's even lower:

Even though the final numbers aren't in yet, we were able to get an exclusive look at the ridership chart for today, during Hurricane Sandy. Here it is:

Image not really from WMATA.

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington and Greater Greater Education. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.