Whilst browsing through our usual feed of transit news, we came upon this USA Today article about the Drive 55 campaign -- it was of modest interest, but nothing that seemed to be too D.C.-area related. After all, the speed limit for all our major highways in Maryland and Virginia have been set at 65 since the national limit was raised by Congress in November 1995 (see page 20 of this PDF), and only a......

Sometimes a word takes D.C., and for that matter the country, by storm. It fits so well, points out a specific, annoying thing, and is fun to say. Sometimes, however, people use words without knowing what they mean. Overheard of the Week Near Eastern Market: Two girls (maybe 8 and 12) are walking with their family. Younger Sister: "I kind of know what it is, but I'm not totally sure what it means because it's......

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......

WMATA has put out its weekend track work alerts. The Red line looks to be the most affected, as switch replacement work at the Friendship Heights station will be underway this weekend. Red Line: Add at least 25 minutes of travel time between Medical Center and Van Ness-UDC due to the switch replacement work going on all weekend at the Friendship Heights station. Inbound and outbound trains will share one track from 9 p.m. tonight......

Maybe Washingtonians (or just me) are cruel, but sometimes befuddled tourists are hilarious. Standing around scratching their heads, looking at a map, asking dumb questions, and the like. Sure, it's cliche, but sometimes it is awesome. And kind of sad. Overheard of the Week: At the Rosslyn Metro at 8:30 a.m. during morning rush hour: Tourist family crams into a very crowded Metro car as the doors close. Mom: "Wow, we actually made it! Wait,......

Metro says riders should expect delays on the Red line tonight in the direction of Shady Grove due to an earlier train malfunction at Forest Glen that has been resolved. No word on what kind of delays we're talking about here, but if you were counting on the Red line to be a snap during rush hour, don't be surprised if it's a bit off the normal schedule.......

Hey Virginia, are you taking notes? Encouraging transit developments are happening in Maryland these days - mostly revolving around the MARC system. MARC's facing many of the same challenges that every other local transit system is: booming ridership, infrastructure in need of improvement, less than stellar performance, and waning public confidence. But lo and behold, things aren't grinding to a halt. First, MARC's administrator, Paul J. Wiedefeld, admitted that the public deserved a better way......

WMATA says an earlier train malfunction near the Clarendon Metro station, which has since been cleared, is still causing residual delays in both directions on the Orange and Blue lines. This doesn't look like a total Orange line catastrophe like the sort we've seen earlier this summer, but plan ahead for delays, especially considering the Nats have a home game tonight.......

The amount of miles logged by Maryland, Virginia, and District drivers fell sharply in May, contributing to a national drop of more than 9.6 billion miles, the third largest slide in the country's history. The decrease saw local drivers notching between 1.7 and 4.2 percent fewer turns of the odometer. So, you might ask, what's this got to do with Metro? Well, lots. The conclusions that we can draw from this drop are many -......

Dr. No has struck again. Yesterday the Senate was unable to pass a legislative package of 35 programs worth $10 billion that had been held up by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ok.). The package -- known as the "Tomnibus" bill -- included $1.5 billion for Metro that Coburn deemed wasteful because his constituents are too poor to come to Washington (no, seriously). But Democrats couldn't convince enough Republicans to join them to push the measure through,......

If you're a press secretary for Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ok.), today's a good day. Both the Post and the New York Times are running profiles on the senator, affably known as "Dr. No," for his persistent opposition to bills that fund government programs he considers wasteful. Coburn has held up some 80 bills during his tenure, and it's gotten so bad that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) felt compelled to introduce legislation last week......

Baseball's trading deadline is July 31, but the District's transportation scene experienced it's own version of a pennant race deal yesterday. Now-former head of DDOT Emeka Moneme resigned from his post to take up the Chief Administrative Officer post at Metro. Mayor Fenty can't be too upset at the loss; WMATA is just returning the favor after Fenty plucked current City Administrator Dan Tangherlini from Metro back in November 2006. David Alpert has the first......

D.C. Wire reports that D.C. Department of Transportation Director Emeka Moneme is leaving for a job with Metro. Moneme will become chief administrative officer of human resources, information technology and planning and development for WMATA General Manager John Catoe. Mayor Adrian Fenty has named Frank Seales Jr., general counsel for the D.C. Department of Transportation, as interim director of the agency.......

WMATA issued a strongly worded response today to an Examiner editorial that the agency said falsely accuses Metro employees of being involved in the farecard scam that resulted in the arrests of six individuals on Friday. Here's what the Examiner editorial board wrote: Metro personnel in the police, technology and financial offices — who are supposed to be monitoring such transactions — may have been involved, since counterfeiting magnetized farecards is a bit more complicated......

AlertDC sent around word just after 11 a.m. that a track circuit malfunction outside the Takoma Metro station is creating long term delays on the Red line in both directions. Trains are sharing the same track between Ft. Totten and Silver Spring. The estimated repair time is 2 hours. This Red line delay comes on the heels of an Examiner story this morning predicting serious evening and weekend delays on the Red line for at......

Metro, you know that we love you, and that sometimes, life isn't fair - after all, you've had kind of a rough year so far, and us transit buffs, we understand that. But you surely can understand that when we start seeing comments like, "I'm planning to go back to car pooling. Really. I'm getting fed up with this," we worry. Because for all your wild successes this year in getting people to the......

WMATA sent out word at about 4:20 p.m. that a Dominion Virginia Power problem is going to affect commuters this evening on the Virginia end of the Orange line. The Dunn-Loring station is without power due to escalating power outages near West Falls Church.Vienna-bound Orange Line trains will operate 12 minutes apart between the West Falls Church-VT/UVA and Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metrorail stations, and every other train will terminate at West Falls Church. Passengers going to Dunn......

WMATA just sent out images of their brand new Metrobuses. The new red and silver color scheme looks pretty sweet. Keep an eye out for one of the 22 new 60-foot articulated buses when they make their debut in August, on lines yet to be announced. The rest of the press release stats are below the jump.......

Six suspected con artists have been arrested for their involvement in a counterfeit Metro fare card scheme. The suspects are accused of trading in counterfeit paper farecards to Metro farecare machines in order to receive legitimate ones, or adding the phony amounts to SmarTrip cards. The cards would then be resold, with the scammers earning at least $16,000. The six suspects were arrested in D.C. and Virgina stations including Judiciary Square, Union Station, Pentagon and......

Jim Graham's hearing on the Anacostia streetcar project has come and gone - the results? Everything's pretty much the way it was before. Barring any last minute legislative derailments, the Anacostia line should go on as planned. There is, however, a small new can of worms opening. The debate centers around whether or not the line will actually achieve anything other than pushing forward streetcar development to other parts of the city. Some transit types......

I don't think I've ever seen a group work so hard to do nothing. It was doing nothing taken to an art. They had since February to come up with something and they came up with nothing. It was like a 'Seinfeld' episode, the show about nothing. - Virginia Governor Tim Kaine Well, we were planning to bring you some of the "highlights" from the recent special session of Virginia's General Assembly - but it......

In case we haven't been doing a good enough job drilling it into your head, public transportation has become increasingly popular in the D.C. metro area since gas prices have been going through the roof. Today, WMATA announced that Friday, July 11 saw the Metrorail system hit a brand new all-time record high for ridership, surpassing even that of the day of Ronald Reagan's funeral in 2004. What contributed to the 854,638 passengers who rode......

Anacostia, Rhode Island Avenue, and Congress Heights all make the list of 10 Metro stations that will be receiving new surveillance cameras over the next six months, Metro Transit Police said yesterday. The Post reports today that the District is kicking in $225,000 towards the effort. Transit Police have recommended that Maryland and Virgina install additional cameras at stops in their jurisdictions as well, especially at stops at the ends of lines. The only Metro......

Metrorail maintenance may make for an interesting read, but that doesn't make it any easier to swallow - unfortunately, Blue and Yellow line riders will get to experience that first hand this weekend. Metro is telling customers who plan on riding between the Pentagon City and Braddock Road stations to factor in an additional 35 minutes of travel time from 7 a.m. Saturday until 7 p.m. Sunday for track work. Additionally, there's going to be......

We know that plenty of you are getting all psyched about the new 3G iPhone, which is set to deliver tomorrow morning. (Hopefully, this release won't result in as much cutting in line as the first incarnation of the much-sought after gadget.) Via We Love DC, it appears that some intrepid developers have created a new iPhone navigation application called iTrans DC (link requires iTunes), which allows you to access published Metro times. Sounds cool,......

Metro maintenance can be disruptive. It's not a secret - weekend work is something that can really throw a wrench into your plans. You've often commented wondering why Metro has to take weekends, sometimes many in a row, to fix a track switch. Well in case you missed the Post's awesome Commuter graphic this week, make sure to check it out to get a feel for how much labor and intricate planning actually goes into......

You asked for it, and now the Post is dishing it up. Sharon Waters, 42, who was fired as the manager of the Dupont Circle Metro station after she was caught in a sex sting operation, has agreed to attend a court-approved diversion program for prostitutes. If she successfully completes the program, which involves two days a week of therapy over four months, solicitation charges against her will be dropped. The other Metro employee involved......

The Examiner yesterday brought us the unfortunate news that Ward 1 D.C. Council member Jim Graham is putting a temporary kibosh on the long-planned first phase of DDOT's streetcar plans. The first stage of the plan - noted as "Anacostia Phase 1" on the map to your right - would link Bolling Air Force Base to Anacostia Metro station. The line's a vital part of the District's long-term plans to connect the majority of Southeast......

View Larger Map This year's Independence Day fireworks are scheduled to begin at 9:10 p.m. (Hopefully, the weather will cooperate.) But do you know how you'll be getting to and from the District's most coveted viewing locations? Well, the District government (and the rest of us living here) would really prefer it if you used public transportation or walked, rather than driving - as one might suspect, there's going to be all sorts of stringent......

WMATA has released a schedule for Independence Day -- and it includes a change from what we first told you last week. Metro will open at 7 a.m. and close at 3 a.m. on Friday, July 4. This schedule is different from what was published on WMATA's holiday schedule on their web site last week (it said it would close at midnight), but that schedule has since been updated. Keep in mind though that on......