Now There's another reason to look your best before you catch the train.
The MTA is ordering up to 340 new subway cars equipped with surveillance cameras, The New York Post reported today. Installing the cameras in the new subway cars will be more cost effective than re-wiring old cars, the paper said.
Any subway that is equipped with the well-hidden cameras will feature a sign that reads: "Notice: This train may be equipped with a video recording device."
The new cars, known as R179s, would replace aging cars currently used on the A line. MTA puts the cost of the 290-car order at around $748 million.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the NYPD is looking forward to the new cameras, which will eventually be linked to their "Ring of Steel."
"I'm a major supporter of cameras, the more cameras the better, as far as I'm concerned, in public spaces, and these cameras clearly will be focused on public spaces," Kelly said at a press conference today.
The Commissioner also noted that the NYPD is in the process of taking feeds from the city's three major transit hubs.
"We are about to finish a project where we have taken the transit feeds from three transit locations -- Grand Central, 42nd Street and Penn Station-34th Street -- and are in the process of bringing them in to our Lower Manhattan Security Initiative Coordination Center," said Kelly.
"I would hope that we would be able to reach these [subway car] cameras as well, i think the MTA is certainly supportive of us being able to have access to their camera links, so as this develops clearly we will be looking to be able to access these cameras," he added.
The MTA is also installing cameras in dozens of subway stations that don't already have video devices, NBCNewYork reported in May. An order of 910 cameras will capture turnstiles and exits -- all at the cost of $23,000 a piece.
