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Someone looking for evidence of increased interest in passenger rail wouldn’t have to look any further than Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which has been leading the record-ridership parade. June was no exception, with Metrorail slashing three records.



WMATA recorded its highest-ever weekday average rail ridership in June, moving 672,864 people — 61,649 more trips per average weekday compared with June 2000.



In all, WMATA logged 16,327,259 passenger trips for the entire month — the first time in the agency’s 25-year history that more than 16 million people passed through the agency’s faregates.



And on a daily level, WMATA recorded its third-highest single-day ridership Wednesday, June 27, carrying 703,281 passengers.



In all, the agency entered no less than 12 June 2001 dates onto its Top 25 High Ridership Days list. In May, WMATA entered only three dates.



"What’s truly remarkable about these numbers is that we moved more people than at any time in our 25-year history without any significant special events occurring in the nation’s capitol," said WMATA Board Chairman Decatur Trotter in a prepared statement. "Furthermore, we did not encounter any significant operational issues during the month of June."