Public-transportation passengers in Park City might want to say "cheese" when entering a bus or trolley in the near future. They'll want to be careful what they do, too — they might be on transit camera.
Beginning this fall, four new buses and one trolley in Park City's fleet will be equipped with closed-circuit television cameras. The buses will have four interior cameras and one on the exterior, so if an incident or accident occurs on the bus, or even outside it in some cases, transit authorities will have it recorded on a hard-drive computer unit on board.
Authorities will only download video from a bus if a driver reports an incident or if a passenger files a complaint. Otherwise, the video will record over itself after about a week.
Eric Nesset, Park City's transit and parking manager, said the monitoring should increase safety, help determine liability in slip-and-fall-type accidents and decrease criminal mischief acts such as graffiti.
"It's a good deterrent, and it's a risk-management tool both for the driver and the passenger," Nesset said. "We have it (camera surveillance) in public buildings and banks. They're pretty much all over in public spaces nowadays. I think people are used to it. . . . Most people say they maybe will feel safer if there are cameras on the bus."
The technologically souped-up rigs will be delivered in September. The 35-foot low-floor buses cost just over $1 million — about $262,000 apiece — while the trolley has a price tag of $280,000. Having the cameras installed added about $7,000 per vehicle.
However, Park City will only have to pay 15 percent of that thanks to government grants from the Federal Transportation Administration. The city has applied for more grants to retrofit another seven buses with cameras, which costs from $8,000 to $10,000 for each old bus.
Todd Beutler, Logan's assistant transit manager, believes Park City won't regret its decision, at least if it's as successful as his city's system has been.
Logan began placing one camera in buses in 1996 and now has three cameras in most units of its fleet. All 24 buses have cameras; only the six paratransit vans don't. Two new buses also have cameras that face out the windshield to view oncoming traffic and road-side passengers. That fourth digital eye will be included on all future buses.
Beutler said the cameras have improved customer service training and accident reviews. In some cases, drivers ask rowdy youths to exit the bus, and the recordings can be shown to their parents as proof and to help them correct the behavior.
In another situation recently, a passenger complained about how the bus doors began shutting on her before she had stepped out. The video showed that the door-safety mechanism worked properly, so the doors popped open and didn't smash her, but the driver was encouraged to get out and make sure the passenger was OK the next time something like that happened.
"There are so many benefits that come from having these systems," Beutler said. "I think it's worth the money having them, for sure."
That isn't the case with the state's largest transportation agency. The Utah Transit Authority doesn't have any type of videotaping system in its fleet of 600 buses and 40 TRAX trains. UTA spokesman Justin Jones explained that a surveillance system was installed on a trial basis in 50 buses about five years ago, but the agency didn't feel it would get enough bang for taxpayers' bucks to implement it.
"It's an expensive proposition. We just don't have the number of incidents to warrant that cost," Jones said. "Our system is very safe. Most people find it a safe and relaxing place to be."
UTA has installed video surveillance systems at TRAX stations and will seek more federal funding for increased monitoring at park-and-ride lots.
E-mail: jody@desnews.com