Politics & Government

VRE Not Offering Inauguration Day Service

Metro is preparing to be the transportation mode of choice.

Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is not operating on Inauguration Day. 

"VRE does not historically offer service on Inauguration Day," management said during their Jan. 2 online forum "Let's Talk".

VRE said it decided to offer service for the last Inauguration because the D.C. metropolitan area shut down most major access points for cars to the city, and crowds for the event were exceptionally large. It is different this time.

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"As there are more options for people to get to D.C. that day, and less people are expected to attend, we feel we can revert to not offering service for the inauguration," management said.

January 21 is also the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday, a traditional no-service day for VRE. 

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Joe from Spotsylvania said in Let's Talk!: "Please find a way to start service on some of the minor federal holidays that not everyone observes (i.e. MLK day, Presidents Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day). Not everyone that rides the train is a Federal employee and not every company observes these holidays."

VRE said it is considering "some kind of service on the soft holidays."  "[It] is on the table and hopefully we can get it accomplished," management said.

VRE hosts an online forum at noon on the first Wednesday of each month.  Participants can submit questions in advance, participate live and review the transcript after the one-hour session. 

Metro is preparing to be the transportation mode of choice for hundreds of thousands of visitors on Inauguration Day 2013, according to D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray.

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