Whether they take a bus to work, ride the train to the airport or travel among the 59 municipalities it serves, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s riders logged nearly 60 million trips a year. The RTA is one of the largest transit systems in the United States. That makes it especially difficult to provide a safe environment for its 4 million riders and 3,000 employees, and protect its many buildings, millions of dollars of physical assets and the more than $30 million it collects in fares every year.
When John K. Joyce, the RTA’s Chief of Police and director of security took his post in 1991, personal safety and protecting assets were long-standing concerns. “Personal crime and safety issues were always number one and two on our surveys back then,” he says. His first step to address the issues was to formulate a plan to integrate the four independent security systems he inherited. Over time he added CCTV in public areas and offices, electronic access control at RTA facilities and voice emergency call boxes for passengers and employees.