Waukesha - All Waukesha Metro Transit system buses will be equipped with security cameras in about two months, thanks to federal stimulus funds.
Robert Johnson, transit manager, said eight buses have had six cameras installed beginning in 2004. Some also have microphones. They have proved useful in the case of accidents, for example, Johnson said, but he added that there has not been a serious crime on a bus that has prompted the need for recovered camera images.
With the allocation of $1,277,951 in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Waukesha Transit Commission Board has authorized spending $72,389 to equip the remaining 20 buses with cameras, Johnson said. They have been ordered and are being installed.
Other stimulus funds have been used for a new roof and parking lot repaving at the Waukesha transit garage on Badger Drive. Bids have come in under budget on the roof, paving and cameras, Johnson said, so the Transit Board asked for and got Common Council approval Tuesday to spend the surplus on other things - $67,000 on replacing an automatic vehicle location system and radio network controller and replacing a staff car for $32,000.
The city transit commission also administers county transit funds, and $200,000 in federal stimulus funds is being spent to buy eight vans for a van pool that can help get workers to jobs where regular transit routes do not exist.
In another matter, the transit system has published a new transit guide for both the city and county systems. It is available online at the city's transit site - www.waukeshametro.org/transit_home">www.waukeshametro.org - and for the first time it is also translated into Spanish.