Date: 30/1/07
Author: Michelle Walbaum
Source: The Daily Targum

When a student takes a glance at a NextBus sign installed at a University bus stop, he or she is also being watched back.

Cameras were installed at the same time as the signs, said Jack Molenaar, the director of Parking and Transportation at the University.

NextBus, a GPS coordinating service, was adopted by the University to signal arrival times for buses by listing arrivals on a marquee sign.

The Rutgers University Police Department keeps tabs on the cameras as a security measure. Though the cameras are not monitored constantly - the same goes for most security cameras - police can use the recordings as evidence for crime and ongoing investigations, Molenaar said.

"The cameras are used a lot as a good investigation tool," Molenaar said. "In addition, people tend not to do criminal things if they know a camera's watching. The level of crime goes down because they know they'll get caught."

Before the cameras, the only securities at bus stops, besides for a patrolling police officer, were lights that brightened the stops at night.

Now security measures have increased twofold - along with the cameras, emergency phones were installed as well, Molenaar said.

"This is just adding another layer of security to the transit stops," he said.

The cameras also help transportation services synchronize buses by monitoring the loads of people the buses are carrying and traffic conditions. Cameras are also monitored to make sure the NextBus screen at the bus stop has the correct arrival times.

In addition, cameras allow for outside maintenance checks on the vehicles themselves.

"We can also check certain things on the buses and make sure everything on the outside is working," Molenaar said.

The University Department of Transportation Services is in the process of installing marquee signs, cameras and emergency phones at all bus stops located within the University's jurisdiction. Five stops are redone at a time, Molenaar said.

For each location, the process takes time - University Services must determine where each piece will go - camera, phone and sign. The location is determined by where there is an electrical source available at the stop, and other details.

"We want to make sure it's functional and what you're seeing is useful," Molenaar said.

Before the cameras were installed, dispatchers sitting in the College Avenue bus stop in front of the College Avenue gym coordinated buses. The dispatchers only could see a few buses at a time, and did not have the ability to view the loads at other stops.

"As we put more and more [cameras] in, they can see the whole system completely," Molenaar said. "What we used to do in just one spot we can do now in many spots."

Students agree that the cameras are a plus for the University.

"If [cameras] are proven to reduce crime and save money at the same time, because they don't have to have an officer on the street - then I think it's good, obviously," said Stephen Gowa, a Livingston College senior.

"It's [a] good security measure," Molly O' Rourke, a junior at Rutgers College, said. "And it's not like bus stops are your private personal space."

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