For America’s 250th birthday, Metro is expecting really big crowds on its trains and buses this weekend. After moving roughly 638,000 people last year, this year could be even busier. It’ll be all hands on deck as the system looks to make sure everyone riding does so safely, at a time when the transit system boasts that crime is at an all-time low throughout the system.
“We’ll have all hands on deck, like we do every year, including myself and the management team,” Metro General Manager and CEO Randy Clarke said. “There should be no lacking of uniformed personnel on the system. What we ask people is, if you see something, say something, and you can again do that directly to any uniformed personnel at Metro, or you could do a text to tip line to police, or you could do live chat with us.”
But even if you don’t see someone in uniform, Metro also has about 30,000 cameras trained on nearly all corners of the system, be it inside stations or on trains and buses. Some of those were on display at Metro’s offices in Alexandria, Virginia.
On the fifth floor, Metro’s Incident Command Center is closely monitoring the bus system on one end and the rail system on the other, both by camera and by radio. They’re connected to operators and maintenance staff, and everyone else who helps make the system go every day. On the Fourth of July, a representative from D.C. Fire and EMS will also be there in case there’s a public safety incident of some kind.
“Within seconds to minutes, we have all that information flowing between all relevant parties,” Clarke said. “We can respond very quickly and with the appropriate kind of resources.”
There’s another Metro Incident Command Center on the floor above where the focus is strictly on the video elements, providing real time coverage of passengers and operators throughout the system.
“What that allows is for our video technicians to be able to access different video feeds across all different modes. So that will be trains, buses, our stations,” said Maurice McKinney, deputy chief of patrol operations for Metro Transit Police. “Our system has the ability to track individuals, or we can search by clothing or track individuals going through our station and through trains without the ability of facial recognition.”
The Fourth of July celebrations are only the latest in what have been several high security events Metro has had to navigate this year. Work is already underway for more of them in the future, such as the IndyCar race happening next month.
“We have a lot of resources to keep people safe for this event, and of course, every day out on the system,” Clarke said.
Trains will be running until 2 a.m. July 5, and Clarke was insistent that everyone who wants to ride Metro home will be able to catch a train or a bus.
“July Fourth is kind of our annual Super Bowl kind of test here for the region,” Clarke said. “But especially at Metro, when everyone else is kind of happy that the event, kind of, in their mind is over, it really just really ramps up pretty heavily for us.”
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