Cleveland Area Rapid Transit recently completed placing security cameras on its transportation system for passengers’ safety and security.

CART began installing the cameras last fall and completed them this spring with a grant from Federal Transit Administration administered by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to CART, said Cody Ponder, grants and planning manager for CART Services.

The security cameras were put in all CART operations including 15 buses, four trolleys and 12 vans available to Norman residents, said Kris Glenn, CART spokesman.

“The focus of placing these cameras really is for security and safety of the passengers and the drivers, also as a learning tool to teach our drivers to show them as a source if there is any issue about what they are doing that they are not aware of,” said Wayne Wickham, manager of operations for CART Services.

Ponder said the security cameras also serve a customer service role.

“For example, when we get a complaint phone call, we can run back the tapes and see what had actually happened to get better idea about the situation and respond to the customers in a better way,” Ponder said.

Some of the benefits of monitoring the security cameras on public transportation systems are reductions of vandalism like graffiti, broken windows and damaged seats. Also the busses with security cameras had fewer injury claims, improved route scheduling, and passenger load management for improved customer services, according to Videosurveillance.com.

The security cameras in the buses are not monitored 24/7, but only the manager of operations person can run back the tapes. When there is an incident or complaint, they need to be looked at closely to figure out what had happened and handle the situations, said Wickham.

There are two to three cameras on each bus, and one of them faces outward in case of an accident, Glenn said. He said this can help prove the faults and determine exactly what happened.

“Having the security cameras makes the busses safer and it deters from making people doing something bad, so it encourages the students to use the busses more often and benefit from them,” said Christina Miles, University College freshman.

Glenn said installing the security cameras was a natural progression for 21st century technology, and this helped CART catch up with similar technology already implemented in other states.

“The CART Services is glad to be moving ahead and trying to be progressive with the systems they offer,” Wickham said.