The CATS light-rail control center near the New Bern station looks like a sports bar: One wall is covered with more than a dozen TV monitors -- the eyes of the entire 9.6 mile Lynx Blue Line.
Inside this room, the Charlotte Area Transit System can see live video of rail stations, park-and-ride lots and much of the train line. Rail controllers can move cameras with a joystick, and CATS brags that the cameras allow them to zoom in and read a license plate from several hundred feet away.
The controllers can do more than look. If they see a problem, such as people standing too close to the tracks, they can ask that people step back over an intercom system at each station.
CATS currently has 160 cameras along the Lynx Blue Line, and it ultimately hopes to have 300 cameras throughout its transit system by the end of 2008.
All of this is in place to make sure the trains run smoothly, and that passengers are safe.
Public transportation has come along way from the 1970s, when New York City's graffiti-covered subways were seen by many as too dangerous to ride. But there is still an unease in some people's minds about the safety of riding the subway, or light rail.
CATS chief executive Ron Tober said Charlotte's security system was modeled after other cities that recently added light rail, such as Houston and Minneapolis. He said the security is important to ease any fears.
"Research has shown that it's a top priority," Tober said. "We are doing everything we can. We think this technology will reassure people."
CATS hopes it will have a law enforcement presence on most trains. It has five fare inspectors whose job is to make sure passengers have a ticket. It also has 12 Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers assigned to transit.
SECURITY
• Each station and park-and-ride lot has an emergency telephone. The phone directly calls 911. • CATS has six cameras on each train. The rail operations center can radio the driver if there is any trouble, and the driver can get on an intercom system to restore order.
• Station platforms are monitored with cameras that can be controlled by remote. The cameras can turn and zoom. Security monitors at the rail operations center can use station intercoms to communicate with passengers.
• Almost all 9.6 miles of track are covered by camera.
• In addition to being monitored live, video from trains and stations will be kept temporarily to aid in an investigation if needed.
TICKET PRICES
One-way: $1.30
One-day pass: $4
Seven-day pass: $13
People 62 years and older, people with disabilities (with transit ID or Medicare card): 65 cents
Students (through high school and with transit ID): 65 cents
Children (12 and under, with transit ID, accompanied by adult): 65 cents
Children (46 inches tall or less or 5 years or younger, accompanied by adult): Free
THURSDAY: COMMUTING
FRIDAY: CROSSINGS
