No matter where Metro riders got on and off yesterday, everybody took the orange line. And they passed through the orange farebox. And looked at the orange ads and orange stickers and talked to orange-clad people handing out orange fliers.
There was a payoff for the orange invasion: a free ride during the morning rush as part of a promotion by financial services firm ING Direct and its signature color.
"I think it's great," said Alison Thomas, in town for a couple of days from Las Vegas.
"If I get anything free, I'm happy about it," said Mike Lavallee, after saving $2.85 on his trip from Dunn Loring to Foggy Bottom.
The freebie was a first for Metro bus and rail riders. Transit officials said they struck the deal to show a little love to passengers who have suffered through a year of packed cars, delays and service interruptions. The giveaway was originally planned just for rail riders, but after pressure from Metro board members, ING officials agreed to include bus travelers. ING paid Metro about $652,000 to give commuters a free ride.
To handle an expected increase in passengers, Metro operated 10 eight-car trains, sending five to the Red Line, four to the Orange Line and one to the Green Line. The longest trains are normally six cars.
Metro officials were unable to provide ridership figures for the free morning commute, since riders are counted by fareboxes and fare gates, none of which was in use.
Jim Gallagher, Metro's deputy general manager for operations, said the rail system had some minor delays but no significant problems. Two MetroAccess passengers were mistakenly charged for their rides but will be reimbursed, Gallagher said.
"It ran pretty well, all things considered," he said.
Calls to Metro's customer service department were up 40 percent, compared to a typical Thursday morning, transit officials said. They said most callers were looking for schedule and route information.
Chris Zimmerman, who represents Arlington on the Metro board, said the agency ought to be looking for additional ways to draw advertising revenue.
"It's an imposition on the landscape, in a way, but if you can directly correlate that to improvements for riders -- we're going to do this kind of advertising and with that money we're going to whitewash your station -- we should be doing that," he said.
Before hopping on a train at Metro Center, Damien Gross said he thought the system "seemed like it was a little more crowded than usual." But he added that it was not too bad, "because it's always good if you have a free ride."
Not everyone was satisfied. Standing on the platform waiting for a train at Dupont Circle, Mark Gordon said, "This is so typical, it's going to be late." He blamed his wait on the free ride and said it was little use to him because it was such a small percentage of what he paid to ride each year. "Not having a fare increase would be much more significant than having a free day," he said.
ING spokeswoman Ashlee Stokes said the company was pleased with its promotion. "It's all good today," she said. Stokes said a similar effort in Boston generated a 147 percent increase in calls to the company, and one in San Francisco nearly doubled its number of customers in that area.
Staff writer Lyndsey Layton contributed to this report.
