Silver Line Records Nearly 220,000 Rides in First Week

Metro’s new Silver Line is turning out to be pretty popular a little more than a week into its service. Over the new route’s first seven days, Metro recorded nearly 220,000 trips beginning or ending at one of the five dedicated Silver Line stations in Tysons Corner and Reston, according to figures released Monday evening.

Before the $2.9 billion route opened, Metro said about 25,000 people would board every weekday at the five new stations, and it’s already closing in on that projection, with an average of 15,942 people a day swiping into the system last week between Monday and Friday.

Who are these Silver Line pioneers, though? Metro says between 8,000 and 9,000 Silver Line riders switched from trekking to less convenient Orange Line stations, while the remainder are people who are new Metro commuters.

The Wiehle-Reston East station at the end of the Silver Line is the most crowded by far, with more than 18,000 trips beginning or ending every weekday. The Tysons Corner station is second, with nearly 7,000 swipes in and out a day.

Here’s the station-by-station breakdown of the Silver Line’s first work week:

Total Weekday Trips to/from the Five New Silver Line Stations

• Monday: 30,846
• Tuesday: 33,287
• Wednesday: 32, 939
• Thursday: 34,364
• Friday: 33,118

Weekday Entry/Exit Breakdown by Station

Greensboro

• Monday: 1,614
• Tuesday: 1,678
• Wednesday: 1,773
• Thursday: 1,865
• Friday: 1,605

McLean

• Monday: 2,668
• Tuesday: 3,045
• Wednesday: 3,012
• Thursday: 3,222
• Friday: 2,870

Spring Hill

• Monday: 2,681
• Tuesday: 2,879
• Wednesday: 2,862
• Thursday: 2,858
• Friday: 2,718

Tysons Corner

• Monday: 6,658
• Tuesday: 6,959
• Wednesday: 6,811
• Thursday: 6,803
• Friday: 7,699

Wiehle-Reston East 

• Monday: 17,225
• Tuesday: 18,726
• Wednesday: 18,481
• Thursday: 19,616
• Friday: 18,226

Find Benjamin Freed on Twitter at @brfreed.

Benjamin Freed

Staff Writer

Benjamin Freed joined Washingtonian in August 2013 and covers politics, business, and media. He was previously the editor of DCist and has also written for Washington City Paper, the New York Times, the New Republic, Slate, and BuzzFeed. He lives in Adams Morgan.