The numbers game

$800 billion is the number being floated around Washington these days. That's the size (rounded down – way down) of the latest stimulus package passed yesterday in the House and being considered this evening in the Senate).


Here are some other numbers to think about.

On Inauguration Day, Metro carried more people than on any other day in its 33-year-history: 1,120,000 train trips, 423,000 Metrobus trips, and 1,721 MetroAccess paratransit rides, for a total of 1,544,721 trips. The agency ran an unprecedented 17 hours of rush-hour service on Inauguration Day, operating 974 rail cars during the busiest period that afternoon, compared with about 830 rail cars during the typical weekday rush period.

Metro spent $5 million providing this service on Inauguration Day and the days leading up to it.

To put this in perspective, imagine every single person in Sacramento County deciding that today is the day they're going to go hang out at the American River. Yikes.