WMATA reports ridership on Silver Line's first week of rail service

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) recorded nearly 220,000 trips taken on its new Metrorail Silver Line between July 26 and Aug. 3, the line's first week of service.

On average, 15,942 passengers boarded a Silver Line train at one of the five new stations each weekday last week, roughly two-thirds of the way to achieving the agency's goal of 25,000 weekday boardings after one year of service, WMATA officials announced in a press release.

Between 8,000 and 9,000 of the boardings at Silver Line stations were existing Metrorail riders who switched from the Orange Line to one of the five new stations.  The balance of 6,000 boardings represents new ridership, officials said.

Silver Line rail service began at noon on July 26 with the departure of the inaugural train from Wiehle-Reston East Station in Fairfax County, Va., bound for Largo Town Center in Prince George's County, Md. The Silver Line represents Metrorail's largest expansion since the Green Line opened in 1991.