Cherry Blossoms' Late Arrival Affects Metro Ridership Numbers, WMATA says

Spokesman attributes drop to late arrival of cherry blossoms

The late arrival of this year's cherry blossoms wilted Metro's ridership numbers for the first portion of the fiscal year, said a WMATA spokesperson Thursday.

Metro saw a 3.6 percent drop in ridership through March, including a 4.9 percent drop on Metrorail, The Washington Examiner reported. The transit agency's latest financial report shows a 1.5 percent drop for Metrobus over the same period.

But Metro spokesperson Dan Stessel said the late arrival of the cherry blossoms affected the March number. He said that ridership in April, the month the blossoms finally flowered, was three percent higher than in April 2012.

Stessel said since the restoration of federal transit benefits ridership has stabilized, ridership is again essentially on par with last year.

Meanwhile, MARC and Virginia Railway Express are seeing record numbers. However, more people are choosing to walk or ride bicycles in some parts of the region, said Robert Griffiths, who analyzes regional travel data for the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board.

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