What Happened?
The city of Concord, North Carolina, recently deployed advanced audio-visual surveillance technology to track bus activity in real-time. The city was able to fund most of the upgrades through federal incentives.
So What?
Concord bus passenger volumes have increased by 64,000 residents from 2011 to 2012, creating a demand for public transit innovations such as a transit center, real-time online bus tracking tools, solar lighting technology at stops and instant messages to online accounts updating passengers of transit news.
The most significant of the public transit investments, however, is the deployment of advanced audio-visual surveillance technology to allow safety officials to access documented footage of bus activities in real-time from remote locations. The data collected from the surveillance footage will be used when accidents or incidents occur to determine the best resolution. The public transit surveillance systems can increase public safety and combat rising cases of insurance fraud from residents claiming to have been in an accident while on or outside of the buses.
The surveillance technology adoption will cost Concord $81,000, $60,000 of which will come from leftover funds and $20,000 will be provided by the Federal Transit Administration.
Cross Country Effort
Cities such as Eugene, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Traverse City, Michigan; Baltimore, Maryland; and Columbus, Ohio; are all investing in similar surveillance technology to gather first hand data from public transit vehicles. The systems being deployed will use:
- Video pairing technology connecting a wireless audio system with small cameras to collect images and sounds of passenger activity
- Microphones to pick up on conversations held throughout the bus, totaling up to six devices
- Data storage units to protect collected audio/visual data from crashes up to a month
- Protective casing around the microphones and cameras to keep the technology in tact
- Command center where transit officials can monitor activities and disseminate communications or alerts based on collected data
Because the surveillance systems are prompting conversations on the privacy of citizens, cities are developing legislation to regulate and authorize the technology for specific purposes.
Grant Program
One way municipalities can fund the deployment of surveillance technology or other solutions is by applying for the Transit Security Grant Program from the Transportation Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security. The grant program features initiatives to make local infrastructure more secure in light of terrorist attacks. In the 2012 Transit Security Grant Program, $87.5 million was provided to public transit systems across the country including trains, buses and ferry systems by the Department of Homeland Security, while the National Passenger Rail Corporation added an additional $10 million. The goals of the program include:
- Offering training, public awareness, drills and exercises, and security planning resources for transit leaders
- Strengthening assets available for remediation plans
- Developing new capabilities and supporting deployment of security features
To apply for the program, municipalities should demonstrate how the funds would be used to improve a preparedness strategy and meet objectives in line with those set forth by the federal agencies.
Other Transit Developments
Gov1 is tracking public transit innovations that make data more available and operations more sustainable.