Anyone who rides Metrobuses knows they can sometimes be like a war zone. Crowded aisles, erratic schedules, and that smelly guy next to you have been known to fuel hot tempers in weary riders. Fortunately, these encounters rarely escalate beyond harsh words or rolled eyes. However, it went far beyond that Saturday night on the 92 bus traveling to Congress Heights along Good Hope Road in Southeast.

As we mentioned earlier this morning, two groups of teenagers began attacking each other and the bus itself with bricks and shovels, according to ABC 7 News. After activating a silent alarm, the frightened driver got off the bus to escape the fighting. One of the group, a 15 year-old boy, then hijacked the bus and drove it five blocks (to get it out of harm’s way, he later said) until cornered by police.

There’s no word as to what provoked the attack, or why these kids had bricks and shovels on the bus in the first place (Food and drink? Not so fast. Bricks and shovels? Climb aboard!). However early reports indicate that the fight spilled onto the bus from the street. With only one suspect in custody, Metro Police has asked that anyone with information about the fight contact them at 202-962-2121.

This incident also brings up the larger issue of what can be done to fight crime on Metro, which has been increasing in recent months. A horrifying protracted mugging on the Red Line last November grimly illustrated the difficulty Metro Police have responding to crimes in progress on trains moving through a labyrinth of tunnels.

Saturday’s incident shows that bus riders are just as vulnerable, with thousands of buses winding through miles of isolated neighborhoods and city streets. While police arrived at the scene quickly this weekend, the group still caused thousands of dollars in damage, and it is a miracle that no passengers were hurt. As the only authority figures who can intervene in such situations, bus drivers are neither trained nor equipped to deal with such violence. Posting police on buses like they are in rail stations seems equally impractical, leaving few options.

A final note to the D.C. Council, should it decide to intervene in this “Metro Crime Emergency”: No, crime cameras on buses (a la our junior high school bus) and curfews for juvenile riders aren’t going to help.

Screenshot taken from the ABC 7 website.