How many will ride Dulles Rail?
It is estimated the Wiehle Extension will attract no more than 24,000 boardings a day in opening year 2011, and 53,000 for the full 24-mile extension to Loudoun, according to the environmental impact statement. However, the project team used a faulty and biased traffic forecasting model which inflated ridership and estimated all trains having eight cars (Metro does not have the traction power system capacity to run 8-car trains on any part of its current system). There are only parking spaces for 5,600 passengers. The rest must take a bus to the station. Express bus from, Cascades, Herndon/Monroe and Wiehle Park and Ride to West Falls Church to be discontinued. Therefore, the actual ridership for Dulles Rail will likely be much less – as has been the case for Metro in general.
