All about the community of model railroading and rail enthusiasm
February 16, 2017
Super Bowl LI in Houston marked the first time that the National Football League champion was determined in overtime. The city’s light-rail line went the extra distance as well.
METRORAIL broke ridership records over the extended Super Bowl LI celebration. More than 700,000 boardings during the nine-day period were tallied on METRORail and METRO special shuttle buses, according to the transit agency.
Four of the five highest single-day ridership totals in METRORail’s history occurred Wednesday, Feb. 1, through Saturday, Feb. 4. Approximately 109,500 Saturday boardings set a new one-day rail record.
“The feedback we have received has been tremendous,” said METRO Board Chair Carrin Patman. “So many have called and messaged about their positive experiences using METRO over these past several days.”
METRO’s new Green and Purple lines saw three straight days of highest single-day ridership.
“This effort was more than two years in the planning and to see the community embrace and rely on our services in such a big way is extremely rewarding,” said METRO President & CEO Tom Lambert. “Our expanded transportation network has grown rapidly in the last three years, and METRO’s dedicated staff proved we can deliver when it’s time for a world-class event and every day.”
Special METRO shuttles also helped people reach the largest Super Bowl events with an estimated 26,700 boardings. That figure combined with 680,100 boardings on METRORail totals 706,800 on METRO’s Super Bowl Connection service.
