Danville residents scramble to get to Washington for inauguration

By Sarah Arkin

Published: November 15, 2008

Residents across the nation and in Danville are scrambling to get to Washington on Jan. 20 for the historical inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

“Anytime there’s a presidential inauguration, it’s mad in the D.C. area,” said Mel Jackson, president of the Bosman Coach charter bus service in Danville. “Since this is such a historical event, I anticipate it will be madder.”

Jackson, who served on President Ronald Reagan’s inaugural team, said he imagined travel protocol would be similar to past events like the Million Man March — buses would drop people off at Washington, D.C., metro stops in outlying counties and they could shuttle in from there.

Jackson said on a normal day he has access to about 15 buses, and right now there are seats left on only three of them for the inauguration.

D & M Charter Bus Co. owner Ken Powell expressed similar concerns.

“I don’t know what D.C. is going to do with people coming from all over the area,” he said.

Powell said he received requests for charter services even before the election and has fielded inquiries from as far away as Roanoke and Winston-Salem, N.C.

Ben Cromwell of Eagle Parlor Tours said he also has received calls from across the state from people trying to get to Washington. He said that there would probably be between 5,000 and 6,000 buses descending upon the D.C. area on Jan. 20.

Cromwell said he is supplying five buses to a group in Raleigh, N.C., and has heard of buses in the area traveling as far as the Midwest to pick people up.

Tickets for the Jan. 19 Amtrak Crescent line that runs between Danville and Washington were sold out as of Friday afternoon, and tickets for the book-ending days were running $90 one-way.

According to multiple airline searches, there were no flights departing from Greensboro, N.C., to Washington on Jan. 19, though it wasn’t clear whether that was because none are scheduled or because all are booked.

Flights still appear available from the Raleigh/Durham area, the cheapest at about $240.

There are just 240,000 tickets to the event and they can only be obtained in January through members of Congress and the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Online scams already are popping up and officials warn that consumers should not be fooled by any Web site offering tickets for sale.

Jessica Barba, communications director for presumptive Congressman-elect Tom Perriello, said the campaign has received between 80 and 90 requests, about a dozen of those from Danville. She wasn’t sure of the exact number of tickets the campaign can give out and said it’ll probably use a lottery system to dole them out.

Congressman Virgil Goode said he will address the issue of tickets after the State Board of Elections certifies the election results in his close race with Perriello and he has had time to examine all the ticket requests.

Danville Democratic Committee Chairwoman Sheila Baynes said she hadn’t even looked into going to the inauguration, citing hotel prices as high as $600 per night. Baynes also said that people request tickets from their congressional representatives a year or more in advance.

“I’d love to do an event locally,” she said.

• Contact Sarah Arkin at or (434) 791-7983.