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It's spring school tour group season in DC, the annual pilgrimage of hundreds of thousands of yokels from Nowheresville to a major world capital.  It use to be just high school seniors and the occasional band, these days the school groups start in their early teens.  They arrive by bus, generally stay in suburban hotels, frequently near subway stations.  There is noting quite so fun as a hundred, sleep deprived, lost in the big city, away from home for the first time feeling their hormones teens, crowding into the subway at morning rush.  They all try to cram into the same car, afraid that if they don't they will get lost and never find their way back.  There are worse places to be lost.  

At this time of the year, when I get into an empty subway car, it is worth taking a picture of the well worn carpets.  When the DC subway system was put together in the 1970's they decided to put in comfortable seating and carpet the floors, to give it a comfy feeling.  It worked better than you would think.  The carpets wear, and have to be cleaned.  It was recently revealed that the specifications for the carpet, limited the manufacturers to just a couple of companies.  No one else could make a rubber backed, glue down carpet that was 100% virgin wool. Is it corruption or just detailed specifications?  Only in the last couple of years were the specifications changed so they could get more than one bid for replacement flooring.  And they announced that they are going to all hard surface floors, phasing out the carpet. 

Is it tourist season in your town?