Metro to Install Surveillance Video Monitors for X2 Bus Riders

Riders of Metro’s X2 bus line soon will have the opportunity to see themselves and their fellow passengers on surveillance video monitors as they travel through the H Street corridor.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority next month will place the screens in 22 buses on the X2 line, which runs on H Street and Benning Road NE, the agency announced today. The monitors are part of an $81,000 pilot program that is set to run for several months in an effort to improve security along the line.

Each of the buses will receive two monitors. One of the screens will go above the bus driver and show real-time footage of passengers entering and exiting the bus. The other monitor, which will go behind the driver, will show live feeds from four cameras that film the interior of the bus.

WMATA’s announcement came after a shooting, knife attacks and, according to the agency, assaults on four bus drivers on the X2 line this year.

“Every Metrobus is equipped with multiple cameras, and those cameras are capturing activity on the bus — inside and out,” Metro Transit Police Chief Ronald Pavlik said in a statement. “Our hope is that showing riders what our cameras see will serve as a deterrent against crime, including assaults and fare evasion.”