WAS YOUR COMMUTE more crowded than normal this week? If so, you weren't alone: Metrorail recorded some record ridership numbers this week — 783,024 trips on Tuesday, 796,087 trips on Wednesday and 793,392 trips on Thursday, according to Metro statistics. Blame baseball, nice weather and tourists.
On Tuesday, this writer, much like Moses, had to part the a sea of tourist kids on the Red Line platform at Metro Center. They all had matching orange t-shirts reading "D.C.-Bound, Panda Proud." If Mei Xiang is indeed pregnant — nobody knows for sure yet whether she is — and pops out another Butterstick in July, it's reasonable to expect that high ridership will continue during peak tourist times. How much more of an onslaught can Woodley Park survive?
» "Happy Birthday to Mei?" [WaPo]