With speculation about up to four million people attending President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, a friend sent me this Donna Brazile blog post:So, with Washingtonians like me being set upon as if we were the last lifeboat on the Titanic, I have one burning question. Where are all these people going to sleep? Will churches open up their basement floors or pews? Will recreation centers and college stadiums allow buses to park on their expansive lots so people can just catch the Metro downtown?My friend's comment was, "This is beginning to worry me." Could this turn into a potential logistical nightmare?
On Metro's all-time highest ridership day, 854,638 people rode the rails with buses carrying 472,846. But even if they shatter those marks with rush hour service all of Inauguration Day, that would still leave millions of people to find other ways to get to the National Mall and surrounding area.
Obviously my intent here is not to curb enthusiasm for one of the biggest and best days of our lifetimes as citizens of these United States. But might it be physically impossible to move four million people into downtown DC at one time?
VRE runs from D.C. to Manassas and Fredericksburg, and would help support commuters south and west of the beltway region.
But think of the waiting lines at public toilets. Or people might want a place to go to get a cup of coffee or a sandwich.
For one I don't know the logistics of where all of these people are going to stay. There was a story in the Post earlier about people trying to rent out their houses on Craigslist - asking 10K$ for a week. I got an email from a B&B up near Harrisburg where we stayed recently, and they are talking about people staying there. A limitation on the number of hotel rooms in the area is going to limit the numbers somewhat. I suspect that most of the folks will be coming to town by bus just for the day, so you just need to find a place to park large numbers of buses for a few hours (RFK parking lot?)
Each bus has it's own toilet, and people bring some snacks of some sort...
so I plan to be in Florida by Jan 20,., enjoying the 70 degree weather.....
But, as far as ringing hands over 'where are the people going to sleep, etc', no, I don't lose sleep. Nor, do I really care.
DC and the surrounding area is what it is. People are booking rooms 150 miles away and planning to leave their hotels on buses at 3am.
I'm not concerned, beyond the normal concern for the environment and transportation that we so desperately need anyway.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced today that it will run rush hour service for 15 consecutive hours from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Inauguration Day Jan. 20, but the authority will charge riders off-peak holiday fares, the Post's Lena Sun reports. Metro will be open from 4 a.m. Jan. 20 until 2 a.m. Jan. 21, to handle commuters after the inaugural balls, General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. announced at a board meeting. (Here is the full announcement from Metro.)