ABSTRACT
Buses have been some of the least technologically advanced and glamorous of public transport options. However, in the wake of major event planning in already congested cities and the renewed focus on security in light of the attacks on public transport infrastructure in London in July 2005, buses are experiencing a high-tech renaissance. Airports, harbors, railway stations, and urban highways have been under technological surveillance since the most basic closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras were introduced. The concentration of many travelers and goods in a small space makes these places some of the most intensively observed areas in our cities. Although subway and rail stations were prioritized for security audits and actions, buses have not always received the same treatment. In the years since 9/11, money has been made available in an effort to make surface public transport more secure and better tracked. Transit companies are looking to so-called intelligent transport systems (ITS) to increase their operating efficiency and passenger information. 1 ITS for buses work with bus priority measures to help keep buses moving in congested areas, for example, through queue jumper lanes, bus gates, and traffic signal priority. These improvements require reliable real-time vehicle location information. ITS can improve the speed and reliability of buses by deploying them in response to actual traffic conditions. ITS is also credited with increasing passengers’ feelings of safety by providing more accurate and timely arrival information. 2 These technologies allow operators to know bus positions in real-time and know who is on (or was on) what bus (e.g., in the future, through cell phone ticketing). Today, law enforcement can request flight passenger manifests, taxi logs, and toll road information. Soon it will be possible to locate a passenger (or better put, a passenger’s smart card) on a specific bus at a specific time. The storage of this information also allows for commercially exploitable data mining concerning a passenger’s movement throughout the transport system. Newer digital and wireless technologies are creating options to secure and optimize bus travel but at the cost of more intense and automated surveillance.
