Bus stations to get upgrade on CCTV

CCTV surveillance cameras at bus stations in Kirklees and Calderdale are set to be upgraded as part of a £1.2m scheme to improve passenger security, it has been announced.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority is working with BT to install 260 Bosch HD cameras across 25 West Yorkshire bus stations, including Huddersfield, Brighouse, Batley, Halifax, Cleckheaton, Denby Dale and Dewsbury.

The fully digital cameras will transmit back to a monitoring centre in Leeds, which will also be upgraded.

Clr Keith Wakefield, chairman of West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Transport Committee, said: “Although only a tiny number of the three millionplus journeys made through our bus stations each year are affected by anti-social incidents, we take them all very seriously and this important scheme will improve the quality of CCTV coverage and the way we can store images and video.”

Clr Wakefield added that the upgraded technology “is set to save the combined authority a five-figure sum every year, meaning it will have paid for itself in just four years.”

An authority spokesperson explained that the digital upgrades are cheaper to operate and maintain and deter costly acts of vandalism and anti-social behaviour, saving the authority an estimated £300,000 a year.

The improvement scheme also includes plans for publicly available wi-fi at eight of the region’s largest bus stations, including Huddersfield, Halifax and Dewsbury.