Several news outlets reported last week that more than half of the attendees at the March 30 Nationals game (more than 21,000 people) arrived by Metrorail. Here's one story from the Washington Business Journal.
That statistic struck me as pretty profound. There's a persistent image of transit as being out of the mainstream, the choice of the somewhat suspect minority. The all-American majority don't use it. But what's more all-American than a baseball game? Sure, it took a deliberate effort to make it work out that way. I'm sure lots more people would have driven their cars if it had been made easier for them. But it wasn't, and that's a big part of the point. The decision was made to emphasize transit, the people came, the stadium was full, and the sky didn't fall.
And there's more to the story than I've seen reported yet. How many fans arrived by Metrobus, charter bus, bicycle, or were locals who walked to the game? (By coincidence, I've already met two people who told me they walked to the game from home.) If anyone has any of those statistics for the March 30 game or future games, please leave a comment or email me.
Joe Chapline is Web Manager for Arlington County Commuter Services
you're not talking about all of America, but the DC region. Certainly, a majority (or plurality) of people going to Wizards and Capitals games take WMATA. As long as attendees are close in, they are likely to as well for baseball.
WMATA/Nationsl should band together and sell discounted group passes for going to games, comparable in how the Pope thing is gonna work.
4-5 people from the far burbs will spend a lot on the subway fare, and be interested therefore in the driving alternative, rather than encourage them through pricing to drive, adjust the pricing.
Posted by: Richard Layman | April 03, 2008 at 10:19 PM