DENVER — The Regional Transportation District has completed a major update, adding live look-in equipment to its entire bus fleet.
The new system makes it possible for RTD safety dispatchers to hear and see events happening on the bus at any moment, giving them a better understanding of what's going on.
The goal is to give safety dispatchers information that will help them assist employees and the public more quickly. RTD General Manager and CEO Debra Johnson said the new additions will also help everyone feel safer.
“The ability for RTD’s public safety dispatchers to view the interior of a bus in real time should provide comfort both to the agency’s operators and to customers,” Johnson said. “The live look-in system presents staff and police with a more granular level of detail as they respond to and resolve emergencies. It is imperative that the public feels safe and secure on RTD buses and properties. With the addition of this system, no one is traveling alone.”
To use the new system, RTD's dispatchers just need a secure, cellular connection to get live audio and video from the cameras on the vehicle. RTD's Integrated Security Systems Program Manager Israel Laufer said the system can make it easier to get information during police investigations.
“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,” Laufer said. “The operator is busy driving the bus, and 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?”
The previous software only allowed dispatchers to hear what was going on, not see it. A $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security made the new technology possible, paying for the software and five years of maintenance. RTD began installing it in 2023.
Currently, 19% of their light rail vehicles have the live look-in technology. All of them will get it by June 2027, RTD said.