Womxn’s March Leads to Saturday Ridership Records

Judkins Park an hour before the march (photo by the author)

Saturday's Womxns' Marches were unprecedented in their breadth of participation, drawing 120,000 in Seattle and nearly 4 million across the country (and it's worth nothing that President Trump's 320 campaign rallies drew 1.8 million total). Beginning in a low-density neighborhood park and bisecting downtown on its way to Seattle Center, the march was fairly disruptive to transportation arterials, particularly for the 50 or so routes that use or cross Jackson St or 4th Avenue. Jackson and 4th were totally impassable for several hours, as the sheer volume of marchers occupied the entire route simultaneously.

Metro said in a release yesterday that its ridership was 40% higher than normal for a Saturday, with 250,000 boardings compared to the usual 180,000. And though Link has crested 100,000 before when sports and weekday commutes converged, the Womxn's march set a Saturday record for Link ridership, cracking 80,000 for the first time and doubling up on its normal Saturday tally of around 40,000.

Metro and Sound Transit added unscheduled service to 17 routes and dispatched them as needed, though crushloads and delays were unavoidable. Had the march been held 6 years from now, 4-car trains could have arrived at Judkins Park Station up to every 4 minutes, significantly alleviating the burden. But Seattleites love their transit and chose it in large numbers Saturday. Well done, y'all.