Video Surveillance Cameras Proposed for Pasadena Transit Buses

Pasadena’s Department of Transportation is seeking authorization from the City Council to amend the city’s contract with the company that currently provides the Transit Vehicle Arrival Information System (TVAIS) for Pasadena Transit, formerly the Pasadena Area Rapid Transit System (ARTS), and add a video surveillance system for the system’s buses.

The proposal, contained in an Agenda Report for Monday’s City Council meeting, will be discussed by the council’s Finance Committee which meets tomorrow before the council session opens.

If approved, the amendment will signal the installation of surveillance cameras on 25 fixed-route vehicles, and 11 buses under the Pasadena Dial-A-Ride program, with an additional cost of $325,917 to the contract price of $1,391,319.

Transportation Director Frederick K. Dock, in the Agenda Report, said the idea of installing video cameras in Pasadena Transit vehicles were part of the original plan when the city contracted Connexionz, Ltd. in 2012, but that funds were not available for this component then.

Only the vehicle arrival information system for the fixed-route system was installed in 2012 after the City Council approved the contract with the Christchurch, New Zealand-based company. No Pasadena-based firms responded to the city’s requirement then.

“Security cameras on transit vehicles serve as a critical monitoring tool for safety and security, assist with reducing fare evasion and other crimes that occur on the buses, and help with collision and passenger incident investigations,” Dock said in the report. “Funding for the Video Security System component is now available; therefore, the option identified in the RFP (the 2011 request for proposal) is being exercised.”

Later, by mid-2016, on-street interactive real-time information devices will be installed at eighty Pasadena Transit bus stops as part of the Connexionz Ltd. contract, the Agenda Report mentioned.

Funding for the video surveillance amendment will be addressed by using existing budgeted appropriations of $250,000 in CIP project Pasadena Transit On Board Security Surveillance Camera System (75081) and by appropriating $75,917 from the fund balance out of Fund 209 Proposition C Local Transit Fund to CIP Project 75081.