MTA New York City Transit announced on Thursday, October 1 that it is testing new technologies aimed at improving safety for drivers, riders and pedestrians as part of the agency’s commitment to Vision Zero.
The first advancement – a pedestrian turn waiting system – issues an external audio warning when the bus is making a right or left turn. A smart sensor-based technology is designed to prevent forward and side collisions by alerting the bus driver with both visual and auditory warnings.
The second, a collision avoidance system, when installed in and around the bus, helps to detect the presence of vehicles and pedestrians on all sides of the bus via the same type of sensors.
“These initiatives are an integral part of our commitment to continually improve our safety performance,” said Darryl Irick, senior vice president of NYC Transit Department of Buses and president of MTA Bus. “Our safety efforts so far have reduced the number of collisions per million miles by as much as 46 percent since 1988. But we are always aiming to do better, and we look forward to taking this commercially-available technology and seeing how we can put it to practical use on a larger scale under New York City operating conditions.”
The first trial has been installed on four New York City buses and the second on two buses operating out of the Flatbush Depot. A 60-day study of each will determine if a full pilot program of one or both systems can be rolled out next year.
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