City and district outline plan for bus stop-arm cameras; ordinance to follow

City transportation and New Haven School District officials told the finance and operations committee they are coordinating on a plan to install exterior cameras on school buses to document and ticket vehicles that pass buses with flashing stop lights.

Attorney Alexiadis and Eric Hoffman of the city's traffic/transportation team described a multi-step plan: the city will circulate a draft enabling ordinance authorized by a recent state law, the city will issue a request for proposals to vendors that supply exterior bus cameras, and the district and city will negotiate memoranda of understanding to govern implementation and data flows.

Hoffman said the cameras under consideration would be triggered only when a bus—s red flashing lights are activated (the statutory trigger in Connecticut) and would record exterior vehicle images for enforcement. The systems discussed would not be used for general-purpose traffic surveillance; the presenters said the footage would be limited to stop-arm enforcement and retained or disposed of consistent with state law and the ordinance. "We can only use them for that violation," Hoffman said. "We cannot use it to monitor traffic driving by the school bus."

Transportation Director Supela Coleman noted that the district—s bus company, First Student, already equips interior buses with cameras and is familiar with exterior bus-camera vendors. Committee members asked practical questions about interdistrict routes (buses that start in New Haven but cross into other municipalities) and were told enforcement business rules could be written so the system does not issue violations for locations outside participating municipalities.

Committee members also asked about safety for bus drivers and students; staff said vendors and implementation plans include measures meant to avoid identifying or retaining images of people inside vehicles and to delete footage after the period required by statute. Bridgeport and other jurisdictions were cited as peers that have already implemented similar systems; the committee asked staff to collect data on outcomes in those cities.

No ordinance or contract was adopted at the meeting. City staff said they expect to circulate the draft ordinance to the board and to return with an implementation plan and RFP process; the committee asked that the district be included in drafting any MOU with the city and the bus operator before enforcement begins.