Security Cameras/Systems Fact Sheet: Rail Transit

Technology Overview

Use Security Cameras to:

Monitor safety and security on vehicles.
Provide incident response in conjunction with other technologies.
Combat fare evasion and fraudulent claims.

All modes of public transportation systems, whether urban or rural, bus, rail, or ferry, can benefit from a comprehensive security system. Security cameras can be used on both small and large transit systems to monitor the safety and security of passengers, employees, equipment, and materials. They can also track the operating status of systems, alerting officials to possible delays or closures. They can also warn officials of possible intentional acts of crime or violence. Agencies can choose between analog and digital technology. Analog technology can be less expensive, recording at 5 to 20 frames per second. Digital technology records at over 30 frames per second and can be paired with many other technologies, including Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and remote monitoring.

image of supervision of passenger safety

Common Technology Combinations

Video cameras are placed on the top of the car of a BART train.

Security cameras can be paired with many other technologies to create an effective security system. These technologies include radio communications, silent alarms, covert microphones, Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras (video surveillance), and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL). Security cameras can assist transit agencies in monitoring and responding to situations onboard vehicles and at transit facilities; they can also be used in incident response.

On-Vehicle Surveillance
On-vehicle surveillance can be used to observe criminals, increasing the chances of arrest if a crime has taken place on a transit system. Complex remote monitoring can pair security systems with GPS or AVL to pinpoint exactly where an incident has occurred.

Station/Facility Surveillance
CCTV can be used as a safety and security precaution to monitor transit stations and facilities. Combined with other monitoring devices, such as perimeter fencing or motion detectors, this can help to determine if an alert from a fence is an actual security breach or simply an animal setting off the alarm. Use of security cameras with fiber-optic cables and digital technology allows images from multiple locations to be transmitted to a central location for monitoring and storage.

Incident Response
Incident-response technology can pair security cameras with AVL to connect dispatchers, drivers, and supervisors and help them to coordinate activities after an incident has taken place. This helps to locate vehicles immediately afterward.

Some Factors to Consider

Planning

Develop a structured procurement plan, performance-oriented requirements, and specifications.
Involve staff from various departments and outside stakeholders such as contractors.
Visit peers at other transit agencies.

Implementation

The implementation process, from planning to having an operational system, can take two to three years for large agencies and less than a year for small agencies. The process includes:

Training of drivers and dispatchers.
Ensuring adequate staff for data analysis.
Providing adequate data-storage capacity.

picture of a security camera Integration

Achieve interoperability with existing and planned ITS technologies. (Avoid proprietary interfaces between vehicle and dispatch-center components; look for open standards.)
Ensure flexibility for changes in fleet size.
Upgrade communications systems as required; test coverage and expect gaps in GPS coverage.

Benefits and Costs

Agencies can maximize the benefits of security systems by developing a process for storing and analyzing data as well as by integrating the system with as many existing and planned technologies as possible.

Benefits

SouthEastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) equipped four of its buses with a surveillance and monitoring system using digital video. This resulted in a 32 percent reduction in claims and a $15 million decrease in annual payouts.
All Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) stations have at least eight strategically placed CCTV cameras performing constant surveillance, which has led to a decrease in crime rates.
Other benefits include reductions in fare evasion and assaults on transit-agency property. Transit users report feeling safer with the presence of security cameras in stations.

Costs

Integrating a security system with other technology could prove expensive.
Stand-alone cameras may not be as cost-effective as cameras integrated into a larger security system.
Staffing needs for training and monitoring may increase.
Additional storage equipment must be purchased to archive data.

Transit Agency Deployments

Name	Contact Information	No. of Buses	Deployment Context	Success of Deployment
New Jersey Transit	2424 Piedmont Road, NE Atlanta, GA 30324-3311		Integrated security system	Provides live and archived feeds that count customers, detects dropped bags, tracks intruders in secure areas such as tunnels and bridges.
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)	600 Fifth St., NW Washington, DC 20001	1,443	Cameras installed on 640 buses
SouthEastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)	1234 Market St. Philadelphia, PA 19107	1,388	Cameras installed on 4 buses	Claims reduced by 32 percent.
Dallas Area RapidTransit (DART)	1401 Pacific Ave. Dallas, Texas 75202	687	Cameras installed on 68 buses	Claims reduced by 35 percent.

Additional Resources

Reports

Transit police contribute to the security network, responding to incidents recorded on security cameras.

Okunieff, P.E. TCRP Synthesis of Transit Practice 24: AVL Systems for Bus Transit. Transportation Research Board, National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1997.

Schweiger, C.L. TCRP Synthesis 48: Real-Time Bus Arrival Information Systems. Transportation Research Board, National Research Council. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2003.

Websites

US DOT ITS Databases

ITS America http://www.itsa.org