We thought that we had noticed more Metro Transit Police patrolling at the mouths of Metro stations and up and down platforms in recent weeks, and now we might know part of the reason why: the total count of reported thefts in the system, both violent and not, is way up from last year. According to the Metro crime statistics site, year-to-date robberies and larceny in the entirety of the system are up about 38 percent and 14 percent respectively over 2007 numbers. At the same time, the overall arrest rate for Transit Police has slightly declined.

What’s to blame for the surge? MTP notes that there have been a depressingly large number of robberies by juveniles in the system – half of the arrestees in robbery cases on Metro so far this year have been under the age of 17. The biggest problem stations seem to be those that service large school populations, like Gallery Place-Chinatown, Tenleytown, and Anacostia.

It's interesting to note that MTP's standard procedure for handling kids who misbehave in stations and on trains — stuff like loitering, spitting, and rough housing — is to warn the offending youth three times before attempting to contact their parents. Maybe with a bit more front-end prevention, Transit Police could get the message through to kids who ride Metro that they can't act with impunity on the system. These rising numbers seem to indicate that a more stringent policy should be implemented, at least at the stations where most of the trouble is occurring.

Photo by apium.

Whoa, Nellie: Have you ever worried that your Metrobus driver is going too fast? Metro certainly is - the agency is now watching bus drivers' lead-footed tendencies with laser speed traps. It's one of the more recent measures in place to make sure that buses stay safe after 2007's dismal safety record. A bus driver who we asked about the speed traps on Tuesday didn't seem too worried about them, noting that she "never really sped that much anyway." No drivers have yet to be dismissed due to speeding infractions under the new program, and drivers are told where the speed traps will be in advance.

For Fans of Maps and Federal Traffic Death Statistics: WTOP brings our attention to a new tool for determining the safety of your daily commute. Combining "Google Maps technology with federal traffic death statistics," SafeRoadMaps.org offers users the ability to sort through not only the amount of fatalities on their routes, but also to sort by specific queries: by sex, age, or even by whether the accidents occurred in the summertime or not. Just poking around, we managed to find that in the District proper, many more fatalities happened when alcohol was not involved - surprising us. We recommend poking around and seeing what you can find out about the roads you use the most often.

Gas Tax Is Dying? Well, I'm Out Of Ideas: And we thought May had a big drop in the amount of miles driven by Americans. How silly of us - June's plunge was even higher. (We're working on a ticker, honest.) According to an AP report, Americans drove 12.2 billion fewer miles this June - a decrease of 4.7 percent from 2007. Naturally, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters chimed in on the issue. She noted that Americans "can't afford to continue pinning our transportation network's future to the gas tax." Great, cut it, wrap it. Unfortunately, she continued, "Advances in higher fuel-efficiency vehicles and alternative fuels are making the gas tax an even less sustainable support for funding roads, bridges and transit systems." This is the missed opportunity. One minute, she's pushing congestion pricing - the next, she's blowing chances to plug it in light of the failures of the gas tax. Instead of simply lamenting the slow and inevitable death of the gas tax, the government should start to help ease the public into the idea that congestion pricing is the new way to fund and reduce gridlock. The idea is bubbling under the surface in many places; heck, Virginia's already constructing variable toll roads.

Or, you know, we could just sit on our hands and whine about people not buying gas. One action seems more productive than the other to us.

Engines and Cabooses: GGW has the lowdown on the bigger-than-you-think reconstruction of U Street, with appropriate suggestions, of course... WashCycle's got an early report from the SmartBike beta testing... Washington Flyer fares could see a gas surcharge hike, depending on a ruling from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority... New PG County master transit plan says yes to more public transit and walking, and no to more road widening... Dr. Gridlock shares his Orange Line pain... VA to extend shoulder lane use on I-66 due to congestion - hopefully we won't be seeing too many SafeRoadMaps.org entries because of it.