Tickets for seats in bleachers set up between the US Capitol and the White House on a route to be traveled by the new president Barack Obama and his vice president Joe Biden will be made available at 1.00 pm (2.00 pm Singapore time) on the Internet or by telephone through Ticketmaster, at a cost of US$25 (S$37.11) each, according to the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

The vast majority of seats to witness the swearing-in ceremony and the inaugural parade are reserved for elite guests, dignitaries, and Washington insiders.

The committee's executive director Emmett Beliveau said releasing the tickets was 'part of our commitment to holding the most open and accessible inauguration in history' on Jan 20.

'The Inaugural Parade is a celebration of America, and we are working to make sure that as many citizens as possible can take part in this historic tradition.'

The ticket-holders will secure coveted bleacher seats along the parade route, but they will not be alone. Organisers expect more than a million people on the National Mall to witness Mr Obama being sworn in as the nation's first black president, and hundreds of thousands more are expected to stand along the 2.7-kilometre parade route.

Officials initially put the numbers of inauguration day visitors to Washington as high as five million, but have since scaled back their estimates.

Tickets are not needed to stand along the parade route, but first-come first-serve spots along Pennsylvania Avenue are likely going to be hard to get. -- AFP