Live look-in system in place on all RTD buses

In support of RTD’s Welcoming Transit Environment initiative, a substantial safety and security project has been completed and is in use on all RTD buses: the addition of live look-in equipment in case of an emergency situation.

The live look-in software – paid for by an approximately $2.4 million U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant RTD was awarded in September 2020, which also includes professional services and five years of maintenance – supersedes a system on agency buses for decades. Using the prior technology, dispatch could only hear audio inside the bus.

With the addition of the live look-in system, RTD’s public safety dispatchers can use a secure, cellular network connection to hear audio and view video in real time from the cameras on board that vehicle. The new approach helps bus dispatch and Transit Police better understand an issue, including how to assist employees and the public in a timely manner.

Transit Police pursued the project because the prior system was approaching the end of its useful life, said Israel Laufer, the department’s Integrated Security Systems Program Manager. “We already had cellular connectivity onboard our vehicles, so we wanted to capitalize on it,” he said. “We were looking for technology innovations and thinking ahead.”

Each one of RTD’s buses has the capability to house the system, both the agency’s own vehicles and those operated for the agency by contractor Transdev. Installation of the new software began in early 2023.

As of July 15, about 19% of the agency’s light rail vehicles also have had live look-in capability added. The remainder of the fleet must be retrofitted with this ability by June 2027, in accordance with state requirements.

Commuter rail vehicles, maintained by concessionaire Denver Transit Partners, already have this capability on the company’s own private wireless network, using a system separate from RTD’s, Laufer said.

All system user activity is tracked and recorded. All system users have received training to reinforce that the system is to be used only to observe and report serious safety hazards.

The new software also evolves RTD’s ability to retrieve video for investigations. About 30 years ago, when digital video recorders were first placed on buses, hard drives had to be physically pulled from the vehicle for review, Intelligent Transportation Systems Manager Tom Hughes said. Over the last decade, the addition of Wi-Fi to buses allowed investigators to capture video only after the vehicle pulled into the garage at night and all the data had been downloaded through a Wi-Fi connection. Now, information can be reviewed and retrieved in the moment. This fact can be crucial for police investigations, when every moment counts, Laufer said.

“There's nothing like a dispatcher looking at the live look-in and explaining over the radio and describing the suspect, who and where he left, what station, what location. That’s a million dollars right there,” he noted. “The operator is so busy with driving the bus, and so many things are happening that the live look-in system relieves the operator from focusing on a precise description: Was he wearing a red vest, a baseball hat, a black shirt?

“Now, all they have to do is press a silent alarm button and people will be able to help them out, to get the exact description out and what happened, and be able to view both live video as well as the video playback of what occurred,” Laufer said.

While not new, this type of software is becoming more commonplace as mobile communication technology advances and transit agencies understand the advantages it can provide, Hughes said. This project was made possible, he and Laufer said, because of input from across the agency to determine business needs.

“I am proud to say that the system is being used hourly and daily, and I can see the system dashboard, video retrievals and statistics,” Laufer said.