WASHINGTON – The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority plans to add video surveillance systems on its buses to help decrease the number of assaults on drivers and passengers.
Transportation officials plan to add new video surveillance monitors on 22 X2 buses in September. The announcement comes after a Federal Transit Administration report found that Metro has not adequately addressed the rising number of assaults by passengers on bus operators, The Washington Post reports.
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All buses are equipped with security cameras to capture activity inside and outside the buses. However, the new equipment will not only monitor activity inside the bus, but it will also allow passengers to see what the security cameras are recording.
An 8.4-inch screen will be placed above the bus operator, which will allow riders to see themselves as they board. A 19-inch screen behind the driver will face passengers and will show the activities inside the bus.
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Metro will test the technology on the X2 line for a few months to measure its effectiveness. If the pilot is successful, officials will decide whether to expand it to other troubled lines in the system.
The pilot program costs $81,000.
