SPRING 2004 VOLUME 2 ISSUE 1
NATIONAL TRANSIT DATABASE
SAFETY AND SECURITY NEWSLETTER
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Transit Security |
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Security Strengths: • Special dedicated emergency phone on every bus • Video cameras installed on buses • Familiarity between patrons and drivers • Strong open communication at every level • Good relations with emergency response teams Security Challenges: • Better communication with other transportation organizations operating in the area • Safety and security within their facility
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incident, WRTA and law-enforcement personnel can review the stored video images.
WRTA also participates in the newly created Massachusetts State Transit Security Awareness Program, funded by the Commonweath of Massachusetts’s Executive Office of Transportation and Construction (EOTC). WRTA distributes EOTC’s security brochure entitled “See Something? Say Something” onboard their vehicles, at their offices and at 40 different off-site locations varying from activity centers to ticket vendors. The brochures include security awareness tips, typical security warning signs, and information on reporting potential security threats.
There are concerns about the security of their facility that houses the offices, maintenance shop, bus yard and dispatch. The facility was built approximately 75 years ago, prior to major security concerns, and has multiple entrance doors, and several gates into the bus yard and parking lots. Although there are only a few trespassing incidents each year – typically people using the bus yard as a short cut – the fact that it is possible to gain access to the facility increases apprehension about security, especially among maintenance employees working the night shift. To improve security at its facility, WRTA is looking to install additional security cameras, gates and alarms, and to train employees to be more aware of happenings on the property. WRTA plans to train employees by distributing the National Transit Institute (NTI) pamphlet entitled “Employee Guide to System Security,” which is designed to raise driver and employee awareness of potentially dangerous situations, and using the FTA-sponsored NTI DVD entitled “System Security Awareness For Transit Employees.”
Employees and hired contractors feel free
in communicating security concerns and potential solutions at any level.
To start with, if a
driver has a security concern, he or she talks directly to the General
Manager.
As an organization, WRTA, communicates
regularly with local emergency responders (fire, police, hospitals), and
participates in emergency-response drills. Also, WRTA staff participates
in a regular working group conference call with the staff of 12 other
transit agencies nationwide to share ideas and suggestions on security
and other matters. WRTA staff has found this working group to be an
extremely useful resource, because it has helped them learn from the
experiences of their colleagues at other agencies.
One of the improvements that WRTA staff would like to see is bet-