Mmmm, St. Patrick’s Day. Photo: Frosted with Emotion via Flickr Creative Commons

It’s nearly time for that annual bacchanal of green libations: St. Patrick’s Day. If you’re planning on starting the party this weekend, please keep in mind that drinking and driving is a terrible idea. It’s all fun and games until you get that $10k ticket — or worse.

Let Metro be your designated driver. Plenty of festivities are Metro accessible and Metro Rail runs until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

On St. Patrick’s Day, go Metro to Casey’s St. Patrick’s Day Street Festival. The event spans three city blocks and is located near Pershing Square Station and 7th/Metro Center. It starts at 6 a.m. — for the truly, uh, ambitious — and admission is free until 1 p.m. and $10 after. Plus, you can save 15% on food at Casey’s (and Cole’s French Dip) with your TAP card.

Metro Rail will run regularly scheduled weekday service on Monday, March 17. Maintenance work in the evening has been cancelled in anticipation of increased ridership. The last trains generally end around midnight. Check Metro’s timetables for exact bus and train schedules and maps and you can plan your transit trip using either the planner at top right of the page on metro.net or Google Transit.