While Metro is expecting about half the crowd it had on Inauguration Day in 2008, the agency is still preparing for a hugely busy day next January.
On the west lawn of the Capitol, the inauguration stage already taking shape. In January 2008, Metro had its busiest day ever: 1.5 million trips.
The inauguration this time falls on Monday, January 21. Which also happens to be the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Metro is already ordering up about 100,000 commemorative Smartrip cards. They'll cost $15 each.
Tour buses will caravan here and need to park somewhere -- and of course there's the issue of funneling tens of thousands of pedestrians around the city.
Transportation leaders will be studying up to see what they can do better.
