The subway has a new set of eyes in the sky.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is testing out a system of high-tech cameras and sensors that will track the way passengers move through subway stations, agency officials announced Tuesday.
The technology, provided by third-party vendor Veovo, uses signals transmitted from electronic devices like smartphones to determine where riders are located. The company also uses futuristic 3D cameras to map out the real-time whereabouts of passengers, and sends alerts to MTA staff when a platform is overcrowded.
“We really have sensors displayed that are listening to your bluetooth, your iPhone, laptops out there,” Veovo sales executive Eddie Llado said at a press conference. “We are then looking at the movement and the flow of passengers.”
Veovo’s people-counters have been in place at the Court St. and Borough Hall subway stations in Brooklyn for the past few months, and will be tested out on five L line stations from Union Sq. and Lorimer St. over the next year, officials said.
MTA chairman Pat Foye said Veovo’s technology does not collect data on riders’ faces — the agency caught flack earlier this year for testing out facial recognition software to identify drivers on the RFK Bridge. Foye added that he does plan to work with Veovo in the MTA’s quest to crack down on fare evasion.
“Having this data real-time and in the hands of the people running the stations like group station managers is going to be so much more impactful in terms of crowding and the ability to act on a real-time basis,” Foye said.
Veovo is one of four companies that “graduated” from the MTA’s “Transit Tech Lab,” an initiative launched last year in collaboration with the Partnership for New York City. The idea of the program was to bring bright new ideas to the agency.
The other selections were Axon Vibe, which tracks subway delays; transit-planning software maker Remix; and Preteckt, a company that claims to be able to flag issues with the MTA’s buses before they disrupt service.
