Ludovic does not lose any of what is happening in the bus line 170 (Porte de Pantin / Saint-Denis).
However, the operator is not in the articulated vehicle that crosses Aubervilliers… but quite simply at his work desk, in the RATP security PC, in the 3rd basement of the Régie's headquarters, in the 12th arrondissement of Paris.
Because Ludovic is in fact "video-patroller" in three buses of this sensitive line, which have been equipped with the "Evidence" system.
This experimental device for transmitting live video images should make it possible to restore sight to agents of the GPSR (the Network Protection and Security Group) on the buses where they are currently "blind".
Ordinary cameras just record
In fact, the cameras which already equip all RATP buses in Ile-de-France normally only record the images (kept for seventy-two hours) but do not transmit them.
In the event of an incident on the bus, the machinist can activate an alarm to contact the security PC.
It automatically triggers the opening of microphones in the bus.
But security officials then only have access to the ambient sound of the bus and not to the images, which can only be viewed afterwards for verification.
However, the sound retransmission alone is usually insufficient to determine the reason for triggering the alarm.
“A heated discussion between two travelers can be mistaken for a fight.
The image feedback allows the removal of doubts… and also makes it possible to better size the security personnel to be sent on site in the event of a problem, ”recalls Didier Baudin, permanent at the network security station.
"A precise description of thieves thanks to a very good definition"
The experimentation carried out for more than a year in three “pilot” buses has already made it possible to resolve technical problems (in particular video stream breaks at the end of the line in Saint-Denis)… but also to make some arrests.
“Thieves who had been spotted during random video patrols.
We were able to provide a very precise description to the teams in the field thanks to the very good definition of the images ”, comments the operator.
RATP security office, Paris (12th century).
“Video patrols” are possible in three buses of line 170 for the moment.
Thirty vehicles will soon be equipped.
/ LP / Benoît Hasse
The experimental device was also used once after an alarm was triggered after the start of a brawl between a dozen individuals in Pantin.
"Thanks to the camera placed above the machinist
(Editor's note: who films the front door of the vehicle but not the driver)
, we were able to assess that it was necessary to send two teams of the GPSR", specifies the operator.
Objective: to generalize the device to other difficult lines
This system was to be installed in the thirty buses of line 170 from next June.
The extension of the device has been postponed until September 2021 ... and for a new one-year test period.
With the aim of generalizing “live video protection” to other difficult bus lines.
IDFM (Ile-de-France Mobilités), which finances the experiment, is very favorable to it.
But not just any old way.
“There are 10,500 buses on the network.
It is obviously impossible to watch what is happening in each of them in real time, ”recognizes Valérie Pécresse, president of IDFM.
"The issue is artificial intelligence," she continues, pleading for the use - for the moment unauthorized - of behavioral analysis software capable of triggering image transmissions only in the event of incident.