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Big brother on the bus

CCTV surveillance on the road solves multiple potential problems.

In Israel, CCTV cameras have been installed on several buses operated by local bus operator Kavim to document the bus drivers’ behaviour and help identify perpetrators of theft and vandalism. The video data also helps the company cope with legal claims made by passengers who allege injury during a bus ride.

The buses each contain three cameras: one captures the driver and the passengers entering the front door; the second captures the driver’s windshield view; the third captures the passengers.

According to Kavim’s CEO, Dror Brill, the cameras were installed to enhance passengers’ and drivers’ security levels. The cameras are connected to a SerVision MVG mobile CCTV server which records the cameras onto a local hard drive while allowing for live viewing of the CCTV footage via a GSM modem in GPRS, Edge or 3G coverage areas.

The security cameras go live within 20 seconds of the bus being powered up and they record video at all times. The video is transmitted live to the company using GSM, so that bus personnel can remotely monitor what is happening on the bus at any moment. The images will be saved in the company’s archives for a one year period. In parallel, the images will be saved on the driver’s MVG unit for a period of 14 days.

The system will help to deter thieves or passengers who would otherwise partake in vandalism. Inappropriate behaviour will be captured in real-time. In addition, through the remote surveillance, it will be possible to deal with baseless legal cases/law suits, injury claims filed by passengers, reckless driving by drivers, and attempts by terrorists to plant explosives on the bus.

Local use of the SerVision MVG mobile DVR with South African transport and bus companies have proven to be effective in allowing for offsite monitoring of the vehicles and buses allowing for increase in productivity as well as event management.

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