Camera testing phase goes live on HSR buses

HAMILTON, ON – In a continuing effort to improve the experience of riders and operators on HSR buses, today the City of Hamilton started a testing phase of security cameras on-board its fleet. With the majority of these installations complete, the cameras started rolling as of this morning.

The cost to outfit the entire fleet with the security cameras was $1.7 million, funded through HSR's capital budget – part of more than $219 million in Council-approved capital investments over the past eight years which include equipment, maintenance, street infrastructure and technology.

The security camera installation is part of a broader strategy to build a more modern HSR service that improves customer-experience, providing service that is customer-focused, safe and reliable.

“Improving the customer and operator experience is an important part of our 10 year strategy. Safe and reliable service is a key component.” - Debbie Dalle Vedove, Director of Transit

Quick facts

• Regular length buses (40 ft.) will have eight cameras installed – five will be inside, three will be outside.
• Extra-long (articulated) buses (60 ft.) will have eleven cameras installed – eight will be inside, three will be outside.
• The City will only access the footage if there is an investigation. There is no real-time monitoring of the footage.
• The footage will normally be kept for 72 hours. If there is an incident, the City will retain the footage as per our Records Retention By-Law.
• If the bus is in an accident, the cameras have sensors that will automatically flag and save the footage.