The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has decided to install CCTV cameras in 1,000 buses and at 38 bus stations under the Nirbhaya scheme.
The corporation recently invited firms for the supply, installation, and maintenance of CCTV cameras for five years. It proposed to install a minimum of three CCTVs on a bus, two of which will monitor commuters inside and one in the rear will check traffic.
A senior BMTC official said that the proposed system will have a dedicated camera to monitor the behaviour of drivers. It will check violations like sleeping while driving, smoking, speaking on the mobile phone, and directly stream such incidents to the control room and send alarms to the driver.
He also added that there will be real-time monitoring of footage and quick response rather than just recording events for evidence after the incident has occurred. BMTC will ensure the privacy and confidentiality of the victim’s identity. The data will be stored for a minimum of 15 days and can be used as evidence for the investigation.
In addition to CCTV cameras, the firm will need to provide mobile digital video recorders (MDVRs) and video management software, among other things.
BMTC officials said 15 bus terminuses including Kempegowda bus station, Shivajinagar, Yelahanka old town bus station, Jeevanbheemanagar, Basaveshwara bus station, Shantinagar, Yeshwanthpur, Koramangala, Banashankari, Domlur, Whitefield, Kengeri, Vijaynagar, Bannerghatta and Jayanagar and 23 bus stations including Austin Town, Bidadi, Chandra Layout, Channamanakere, Chikkamarenahalli, Hesaraghatta, ISRO layout, Jigani, Kadugodi, Kavalbhyrasandra, Kumaraswamy bus station, Laggere bus station, Malleshwaram 18th cross bus, Nandini Layout bus station, RPC Layout, Rajarajeshwari, Singapura, Uttarahalli, Vidyanagara, Hosakerehalli, Vidyaranyapura, Yelahanka new town bus stand and Yelahanka 5th phase will have CCTV cameras.
At present, nearly 600 buses have CCTV cameras but there is no real-time monitoring feature, so the footage can be used as evidence only after untoward incidents occur.