No Cameras on Cheshire School Buses — Yet

For the second time this year, the Cheshire Town Council tabled a proposal to place cameras on some school buses that would catch in the act those illegally passing the vehicles while they're loading and unloading children.

Vincent Masciana, the school system's director of management services, explained to the council Tuesday how the cameras would be installed free of charge to the town by Redflex Traffic Systems' Student Guardian and the company would take part of the cost of the ticket to drivers. Those ticketed are fined a $450 fee, of which $234 would go to the company, $126 to the town and $90 to the state, he said.

It's a program that is growing in popularity in the state. The surrounding towns of Wolcott, Southington and Hamden have already adopted the cameras. The state legislature approved the use of the cameras on school buses in 2011.

"The contract is a 90-day free trial period," Masciana told the council. "That way we can make sure the town and the police department is comfortable with the way the system operates."

If it were to fail — for example, if the number of tickets issued isn't enough to make up for the cost of the cameras — it won't cost the town any money, he said.

"All the risk is to Student Guardian," Masciana said. "If it doesn't work out, it won't affect the town — the town won't pay anything, and from that point of view I believe this is an initiative that we should pass because the ultimate goal is for a safer environment for our children."

Back in May, the district ran a pilot program with four buses on loan to the town equipped with cameras, Masciana said. The belief was that the tickets issued would equal about 0.75 per bus per day, but it turned out that number was 1.5 tickets per bus per day, he said. 

"On one route on Route 10, one bus was passed four different times in one day," he said. "We believe this is something that is necessary at this point in time."

But Councilman Andrew Falvey said he wasn't comfortable with giving the contract to Student Guardian without finding out what other deals are out there from other companies. Because the contract does not involve payment on the part of the town, it is not required to go out to bid.

He's not opposed to the idea of equipping buses with cameras and agrees there is a need, Falvey said, but more research needs to be done to see who else provides the service and on what terms.

"I did a quick Google search and on the first page found six other vendors," he told the council.

Ultimately the council agreed to table the proposal and send it to the Planning Committee for further research, similar to the action it took in February when the contract first came before it.