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Saturday, November 12, 2016

State Grant To Put Cameras On Ocean City Buses; Timing For 2017 Season Looks Unlikely

OCEAN CITY — Resort officials learned last week the Maryland Transit Authority (MTA) had approved a $500,000 grant for surveillance cameras for Ocean City’s municipal buses, but it appears they won’t be ready for the 2017 season.

During last week’s Transportation Committee meeting, Public Works Director Hal Adkins told members the MTA had approved the town’s requested fiscal year 2017 grant allocation for a variety of uses including a new state-of-the-art video surveillance camera system for the fleet of municipal buses. Last spring, the MTA recommended Ocean City move forward with implementing a transit surveillance system aboard its entire fleet, which currently includes 65 vehicles including ADA vans.

The MTA suggested as many as five or six cameras inside and out for the standard 40-foot buses and eight or nine for each of the two new articulating buses. Given the total numbers of vehicles in the resort’s current fleet, the total number of cameras needed to fully outfit the buses would be around 400. However, while the MTA has included funding for the cameras in its fiscal year 2017 allocation for the cameras, it appears unlikely they would be ready for next season.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is amazing that the State can give a seasonal operation that kind of money for bus safety inside and outside or what ever but Deers Head Hospital cannot get any State money for security cameras inside and outside of the Hospital. These patients are hellava a lot more important than Drunk vacationers. This is how stupid the State Politians are.

Anonymous said...

Cameras for Deers Head Hospital? Really? Most (if not all) residences are TERMINAL. Is there something you want to protect their patients from (i.e., death)?

All OC buses have a strobe light. Supposedly, the bus driver activates it if there is a "situation". In reality, OC Transportation management's first action to call the bus driver over the (open) radio to tell them to turn the strobe light off. I ask you, if a hood has a gun pointed at a drivers hear, what would you expect him to do. Certainly not turn on the strobe like because that is useless as management will simply tell them to turn it off. I guess the driver could radio an open broadcast stating "there's a gun at my head" but not since the bad guy is right there.

Ocean City's problems are not with drunk vacationers. It's with the hoodlums visiting from the BIG CITY that get their rocks off punching bus drivers. Ocean City actually invites the drunks given there all more signs in town stating BEER than there are OCEAN CITY.

The Town Council doesn't ride the buses by the way.

Anonymous said...

This is going to be a very interesting off season - INDEED!

Anonymous said...

7:47 when was the last time you where at Deers Head? There are a lot of patients that does not fit your analogue. They do go out side by themselves at times, they go through out some areas. They are not all invalids. They do have rights. They are not imprisoned. Get your facts right. Also why don't you explain plain clothes police are riding the OC buses a lot.