Did it seem like Metro had a few more riders yesterday than usual? That’s because it did: about 60,000 more than on a typical weekday, to be exact. As cited on WJLA’s website, Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said more than 760,000 took to the rails on Thursday. She indicated that normal usage for any given weekday is around 700,000. Average or above-average, that’s a lot of people. Why the spike?

As noted in the article, visitors are in town for the Cherry Blossom festival, and Metro usually sees a spike in ridership around this time. Thus, let tourist season commence. For District residents, perhaps this is a good time to walk a bit more than usual, or take advantage of Metro Bus and the Circulator. Or call up Carriages of the Capital for a horse and buggy ride.

But really, we’re happy that Metro is being well-used; bring on the people! As long as they don’t block the doors: enough residents do that already. And remember, on the station escalators, stand to your right, walk on the left.

Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user techne