Starting next week, your bus might start talking to you.
More specifically, Halifax Transit is rolling out automated stop announcements on 13 of its bus routes.
Audio stop announcements will be delivered through speakers on both the inside and outside of the bus. The information will also scroll across the “stop request” display sign at the front of each vehicle.
This means passengers won’t have to rely on bus drivers or fellow riders to tell them when their stop is. A release from HRM says the service will help passengers who are deaf or blind, as well as those visiting the region.
The pilot phase is meant to “allow transit staff to closely monitor the new system’s performance and make any necessary adjustments.” It will start Monday on routes 2, 7, 20, 21, 35, 54, 59, 60, 72, 80, 87, 89 and 400.
When Halifax Transit feels the system is up and running as it’s supposed to be, it will be activated on the rest on the city’s buses. This is all part of HRM’s $43-million transit technology revamp.
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This article appears in Dec 8-14, 2016.
How about setting aside some of that $43 million for enhanced resolution microphones on the busses? I don’t imagine the microphones in the older cameras are very good. Apparently the British can isolate a single conversation out of the noise during a soccer game.
Also some computing horsepower to run facial recognition on past and future stored video footage might be helpful one day. That way all Registered Transit Users can be greeted by name as they board the bus. This will also facilitate tracking of user movements through the transportation network, and help build lists of those who associate. If the proper filter is added to the cameras we can also count and identify individuals who may be high.
They have also done wonderful things with behavioural recognition too. If someone punches someone, or screams over an acceptable decibel noise level the bus can be automatically shut down and the authorities dispatched.
I guess what I’m saying is that I would like the future generations of busses deployed by HRM not have any microphones on them at all.
I think it’s a shame that we are going to have a generation of riders growing up under complete State Surveillance. They will be able to fast forward and rewind you through every boyfriend you dated. Every time you change jobs. The AI will notice when your wife gets on the bus with a different man when you took the bus to the airport.
Sticks and stones may break your bones, but names shall never hurt you.
I get the cameras. But I don’t want microphones.
The first time I read the sign on the bus with the exclamation mark saying that the cameras were also recording my conversations with my fellow riders, I realised that the Canada that I believed in was dead. I couldn’t understand that there weren’t rallies and protests in the streets.
I thought to myself, “Well, if the Municipal Government has decided that their policy is that they need to listen to every single conversation I have with my friends and strangers on the bus, then it’s my policy not to have any conversations on the bus at all.” I’ve been a total turd to everyone on the bus since I’ve read that sign. No eye contact, no greetings. A truly lame silent protest.
As your counsel, I advise you not to speak on the bus as well. You have the right to remain silent. Everything you say on the Bus, Can And Will be used against you in a Court of Law.
I want to see a sign on the bus that says our freedom to express and associate is acknowledged by HRM, and that there are no audio recordings being taken.
I used to love talking to my Driver every day, and I miss it.
Don’t worry about HRM becoming Big Brother.
Google and Facebook have that covered…
When you thought to yourself in quotations, did that mean you were thinking out loud…?
You have that right my friend, they will all be working together to follow and predict you. Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Amazon have joined forces to pitch AI processing of data to their customers.
With the Government of Canada’s Cloud Adoption Strategy, they are about to hand all of their “low security” data over to the cloud providers for processing. National Secrets are High Security of course, but the personal data of Canadians falls into the low-tier. IE. everything they have about YOU.
Good luck getting insurance when Google adds up just how much pepperoni and cheese you bought at Sobeys.
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