New York City Buses to Get Video Cameras, Recorders in $9.75 Million Plan
United Technologies Corp. will install video cameras and recorders on New York City buses under a $9.75 million plan approved today by the board of the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
The company’s Bradenton, Florida-based UTC Fire & Security unit will place cameras and digital video recorders on 426 buses in Manhattan starting in the first quarter of next year, with completion scheduled by 2012, according to documents provided to the board. The contract includes an option for cameras for another 1,150 buses.
The program, which may be expanded to include routes in high-crime areas, is “essential to providing improvements to the safety and security of the environment for employees and the riding public,” the documents said.
“Video surveillance has clearly been shown to deter criminal activity on transit vehicles,” New York City Transit President Thomas F. Prendergast said in a statement. “We also believe that it will be extremely valuable in investigating accident injury claims.”
United Technologies, based in Hartford, Connecticut, was one of eight companies invited to present products for evaluation, and was one of three to provide equipment for a five-bus test, the documents said.
Losing Bidders
The company’s $9.75 million bid beat offers from Ra’anana, Israel-based Nice Systems Ltd., which bid $20.4 million, and Ottawa-based March Networks Corp., which bid $7.12 million.
The contract replaces a prior agreement to install cameras on city buses that was delayed when the previous contractor, Integrian Inc. of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, “unexpectedly” went out of business, the document said. About 75 MTA buses are currently outfitted with cameras, said Jeremy Soffin, a transit authority spokesman.
New York City Transit, an arm of the MTA, contracted in 2006 with Integrian to install closed-circuit cameras on about 400 buses to deter criminals and vandals for about $5.35 million, with an option to expand the program to another 560 vehicles.
About 2.88 million people ride every day on buses operated by the MTA, the largest U.S. public transit agency, which also runs New York City’s subways, the Long Island and Metro-North commuter railroads, seven bridges and two tunnels.
UTC Fire & Security’s Interlogix unit will provide the cameras, said Sarah O’Shea, a company spokeswoman. Interlogix has provided similar products to public transit agencies in Miami and Philadelphia, said President Bob Haskins.
“We’re excited to be able to provide this solution to the city of New York,” Haskins said in a telephone interview. He declined further comment on the contract, citing a non- disclosure agreement with the MTA.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in New York at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David E. Rovella at drovella@bloomberg.net.
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