Where Do You Park 10,000 Charter Buses?

Additionally, there will be last-minute rolling street closures dictated by the Secret Service, not to mention the possibility of snow and freezing weather.

"I cannot recall anything being as challenging from a logistical standpoint as transportation for the inaugural of President Obama," said Shosteck, who has lived in Washington for nearly 40 years.

For now, transportation and business officials are anticipating 10,000 buses -- which if stretched from end to end would circle the Capital Beltway and then stretch to Baltimore, according to Greater Washington Board of Trade President Jim Dinegar.

"So the logistical issues associated with this are huge," Dinegar said yesterday.

Some organizers for the Million Man March, held Oct. 16, 1995, predicted that 11,000 charter buses would come to Washington. The march, a gathering of African American men from across the country, is often used as a benchmark because of the large crowd it drew. But an analysis by the American Bus Association estimates there were 2,500 buses, including school buses, Shosteck said. Many buses parked at RFK Stadium. With a high temperature of 62 degrees, many people walked to the Mall. Metro also ran some shuttle service from the Stadium-Armory and Fort Totten Metro stations to the Mall.

Inaugural planners say the Million Man March is not particularly relevant for planning purposes because of drastically heightened security concerns after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

City and regional officials will not make their final decisions about transportation plans until about Dec. 20, a month before the inauguration.

Metro will play a critical role. Calling it the biggest challenge in the 32-year-old agency's history, General Manager John B. Catoe Jr. told a Metro inaugural planning group last week to prepare for "everything that could possibly happen" with crowds five to 10 times as large as Metro's typical ridership of 500,000 for the Fourth of July celebration on the Mall.

The transit agency will run an unprecedented 15 hours of consecutive rush-hour rail service on Inauguration Day. Even so, Metro officials say they can accommodate only 4,700 buses, or roughly 235,000 people, at Metrorail station parking lots, according to senior planner Jim Hughes. More than that would overwhelm the system. Although Metro has about 60,000 parking spaces at 42 stations, charter buses take up two regular spaces, and Metro also wants to keep spaces open for the region's nearly 6 million residents.

If Metro takes 4,700 busloads of people, that means city and regional officials need to find parking for the remaining 5,300 buses.

The District is hoping to park as many buses as possible in the city, preferably within walking distance of the Mall, Tangherlini said.

The uncertainty is worrying bus operators.