Keep bus cameras rolling
If our city buses have security cameras on board they must be turned on to be of any use. As alarmingly straightforward and obvious as this statement is, it appears that having cameras that actually capture footage isn’t happening as much as it should.
What is the point of having cameras if they are just there for show in some cases? It’s one thing for people to have a fake camera set up on their garage to deter would-be burglars, it’s another matter entirely to protect passengers and drivers on a bus that carries dozens of people.
Wellington bus commuter Kit Retter this week highlighted the situation after he tried to do the right thing and alert police and the bus operator about dodgy activity on his busy bus. He was dismayed to find out the cameras weren’t recording as a matter of course.
Retter’s situation – coming across poor behaviour on public transport – is not a lone case. While the vast majority of bus trips, carrying thousands of passengers a day, occur without incident, some can become a problem.
Anti-social behaviour on buses isn’t new, and riding on them in close quarters can cause tempers to fray, and be an environment for undesirables.
We live in a world that is closely monitored – especially in urban areas – by all manner of camera systems. People expect, and are largely comfortable with, cameras recording people and their actions in public places.
But, according to the NZ Transport Agency, there are no legislative requirements for security cameras to be fitted on buses.
There are not insignificant costs associated with installing cameras on buses, not to mention maintaining and upgrading them, along with storage of the collected data.
Even considering those costs, it is the price to pay to help keep paying passengers and drivers that little bit safer. Taxi drivers are required to have operational video cameras, so why not buses?
If there are loopholes in the law saying buses should have cameras, but they are turned on only now and then, that loophole needs to be closed.
Under current contracts ‘‘the provision of cameras on buses is currently up to the operator – it’s not a legal or contractual requirement’’, a Metlink spokesman said.
New contracts with operators, that kick in from April through to July, will mean all of the region’s buses – Wellington, Wairarapa, Hutt Valley, Ka¯ piti, and Porirua – will have cameras installed, operating and monitored, both inside and outside the bus. That’s an encouraging step, but seems many years too late.
Good security footage has been successfully used to catch people committing crimes on buses, and against drivers, so why have some bus operators been so blase about hitting the record button?
Taxi drivers are required to have operational video cameras, so why not buses?