Inaugural crowd blasts initial estimates at above one million

At least one million people attended the president's swearing-in on Monday, an inaugural official said.

That far surpassed projections of between half a million and 700,000 attendees provided by inaugural planners before the event. But despite the healthy turnout, the crowd size was far below the president's first inauguration, where an estimated 1.8 million flooded the National Mall.

The region's mass transit system also saw ridership below 2009 levels, but ahead of projections. In December, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said it expected between half a million and 800,000 riders to use public transportation on Monday. By 4 p.m. — as the parade continued on and before workers had begun their evening commutes — more than 538,000 riders had already entered the system.

At the same time in 2009, some 807,000 riders had used Metro. By the end of the day, some 1.5 million riders had used the public transportation system.

"Metro is planning the same level of transit service it provided during the 2009 Inauguration, although attendance is not expected to reach the historic levels of four years ago," the transit agency said.

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