Posted on 09/20/2009 6:10:19 AM PDT by gusopol3
Metro Delivers Hundreds of Thousands to 9/12 Rally Posted September 15th, 2009 at 4.58pm in Ongoing Priorities.
Much has been made over the attendance at the march and rally in DC on September 12. Reports varied, with many on the left clinging to an unofficial DC Fire Department estimate of 60,000 to 70,000. Some reports from overseas went as far as to say two million. However, one completely objective source of information is the number of people who rode Metro, Washington, DC’s mass transit subway system. Washington Metro measures and releases its ridership numbers and these numbers have been used in the past to judge the size of major events in Washington, DC.
For a fair comparison, we looked at the Saturday after Labor Day in 2008, which is when September 12 fell in 2009. On September 12, 2009, 437,624 rode metro rail. By comparison, on the Saturday after Labor Day in 2008, 202,528 rode. The difference is 235,096. Even if nobody else came to the March, and we know they did by chartered bus and by carpool, the theory that only 70,000 people were there is off by roughly 335% - debunking the 70,000 claim. To take it a step further for comparison, we also looked at the attendance for President Obama’s Inauguration in January 2009. Convential wisdom estimates that attendance for the inaugural was between 800,000 and 1.8 million, or an average of 1.3 million. If you compare Metro riders on Martin Luther King Day 2008, the similarly situated federal holiday in January to the Inauguration in 2009, approximately 975,000 additional people rode metro for the Inauguration. If you compare 975,000 additional metro riders as a percentage of the 1.3 million total who attended and you do the same for 235,000 additional metro riders for the 9/12 March, than at least 313,000 went downtown for the explicit purpose of marching against out-of-control government spending on September 12. This assumes a similar percentage of attendees took buses, cabs, drove in, walked, etc.
If you believe the number was 1.8 million at the Inauguration and you do the same for 9/12, then the number is 433,000. So is an estimate of 313,000 to 433,000 attendees accurate? Well, it is certainly an unbiased and impartial start to understanding the debate over crowd size. The bottom line is that hundreds of thousands of Americans who were upset with government spending, a failed stimulus, a government takeover of health care, and a massive energy tax came with their parents, children, grandparents, cousins, college roommates, etc. to a multi-generational and peaceful family protest in Washington.
Good point! And another news item not known by the ‘news’ media.
Ping and testing my new tagline
Most excellent!
First I’ve heard of the “Can you hear us now” demonstration. Hope it gets more attention.
Send the link to everyone you can.
For a fair comparison, we looked at the Saturday after Labor Day in 2008, which is when September 12 fell in 2009. On September 12, 2009, 437,624 rode metro rail. By comparison, on the Saturday after Labor Day in 2008, 202,528 rode. The difference is 235,096. Even if nobody else came to the March, and we know they did by chartered bus and by carpool, the theory that only 70,000 people were there is off by roughly 335% - debunking the 70,000 claim...
Someone forwarded me an e-mail from the Fire Department that says they do not make crowd estimates. So BOR lied about this.
I heard this same story about the Metro stations on 9/12 over and over from callers on Rush's show, Hannity's and on our local conservative talk show host's (Jim Vicevich) show in Hartford, CT.
My husband and I were there. We drove down from CT, and were lucky to find a "cheap" rate at a nearby Holiday Inn, so we walked to Freedom Plaza. As you may know, the march was supposed to step off from Freedom Plaza at 11:30am, but because the area - and the nearby Metro stations - were SO overwhelmed with people - the DC police told the March organizers to step off at least an hour earlier.
9/12 was exhilarating! My husband estimates the crowd at around 400,000-600,000. I say there were close to a million...
Bump!
Very interesting... wow.
I was there on 9/12, and I would swear there were close to a million people in DC. It was truly amazing...
Your story matches Vor Lady's post #11 above!
Nam Vet
See Reply 67.
I was standing next to a guy who had been at the inauguration..he said it wasn’t even close..that there were so many more people at the inauguration. Just relaying a story...don’t shoot the messenger!
9/12 in DC was truly amazing. My husband and I have actually taken part in several rallies and two inaugurations (GWB) in DC (and elsewhere) since 2000, but I've never seen anything like the 9/12 March on Washington.
If there's a need for a similar rally in DC, we'll be there in a heartbeat!
Whoa, firebrand! Now that's interesting...
Wow, that’s some excellent research! Bravo, Heritage Foundation!
That's, of course, because it's a true story. Nevertheless, Federal Plaza was only one of several Metro stations near the start point for the march ... does anyone have a similar account from other stations nearby.
It would be very interesting to get the station by station count of ridership for 9/12. The stations most affected would probably be Federal Triangle and maybe Smithsonian, then Federal Center and Capitol South.
In any case there were lots of ticked off Americans, with no discernable leader, rallying to make their voices heard by the near deaf Congress and the self-absorbed, arrogant President.
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