-- Obama's speech online, and crowded metro pic

L'Enfant Plaza metro stop line, 2pm

Metro to Baltimore pic, 3:45pm

Both pix from CarFreeJan20 on Twitter

Here's a view leaving the Metro station headed to the swearing-in ceremony: a journey that normally takes 15 minutes took almost 4 hours! -- Inauguration 2009 Contributor Kathleen Hicks, Fort Worth City Council member

Look at this crowded mess! As of 5:30 am, the Greenbelt, Branch Ave and New Carrollton metro station parking lots were FULL. It took one twitterer 5 hours to go from VA to DC late morning (what normally takes a 20-30 minute commute) because the metro stations were absolutely mobbed. Estimated capacity was about 100,000 people an hour on the metro this morning. One woman fell on the tracks but she is ok. Also Senators Byrd and Kennedy were rushed to the hospital during lunch... hope they are ok too.

Over one million people rode the metro today. Average ridership was about 100,000 per hour. (See Metro Ridership Tops 1 Million, Shattering Record from the Washington Post.) Wow! On the other hand, one friend of mine that rode the bus had the best possible commute -- he arrived and departed with no delay whatsoever. I think more people relied on the metro than buses.

Text of Obama's speech -->