Metro News: New cameras on Metrobus fleet and Morning Peak of Peak Fares

Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr. T in DC

From a WMATA press release:

Metro has begun to install new cameras on its fleet of 1,500 buses to assist with improving Metrobus safety by documenting incidents and assisting operators to develop safer, more efficient driving habits.

As part of a five-year contract, DriveCam will install cameras on all operational Metrobuses; review and analyze video footage; and provide feedback on operator driving habits.

Metro currently has security cameras on many of its buses that are primarily used to document customer-related incidents. DriveCam’s main focus is to help the Metrobus staff reduce incidents, and improve safe driving habits.

The DriveCam system will capture video and audio inside and outside of Metrobuses, detect when an operator makes a defensive move to avoid an accident, brakes or accelerates suddenly, turns sharply, or is involved in an incident.

DriveCam will analyze the data from such events and that analysis will be provided to management, supervisors, trainers and operators. The information will be used to encourage good driving habits, correct poor habits, and help in investigations.

“We believe DriveCam’s expertise will help us provide our customers with even safer bus service,” said Jack Requa, Metro Assistant General Manager of Bus Services. “But many others will benefit from this partnership with DriveCam, including operators, pedestrians and other drivers on the roads.”

Installation of the system began in mid-August and is expected to be completed and fully operational by January 2011. Metrobus officials are integrating the system into the bus fleet in phases, which includes equipment installation, operator and supervisor training, and policy education throughout all nine Metrobus divisions.

Metro Chief Safety Officer James Dougherty said DriveCam will help Metrobus operations by “identifying risky behavior” before the behavior results in an incident. “This is another tool that we will have to train our personnel to focus on safety,” he said.

Deployment of the system on Metrobuses, which cost $3 million to install and monitor during the next two years, resulted from an extensive analysis of the DriveCam services by Metro officials. The system is already in use on MetroAccess vehicles.

Think this’ll work?

Peak of the peak fare increase after the jump.

And target=”_blank”> peak of the peak fares go into effect Aug. 29th:

“Metro will begin charging a peak-of-the-peak fee on August 29 for Metrorail trips taken between 7:30 and 9 a.m. weekdays, completing the phased implementation of peak-of-the-peak pricing.

A 20-cent peak-of-the-peak fee for trips taken between 4:30 and 6 p.m. weekdays has been in place since August 3. The fee is based on the starting time of a trip, or when a customer enters the fare gate at a Metrorail station.

Additional programming changes are being required to implement the reduction of the cost of a SmarTrip® card from $5 to $2.50 to encourage customers to take advantage of SmarTrip® savings and convenience.

In order to introduce the change, Metro must make technological upgrades to implement a new fare gate exit rule requiring SmarTrip® card users to have full fare value on their cards when they exit the Metrorail system. Those upgrades are expected to be complete by early fall, at which time the price of SmarTrip® cards will drop.”