Mass transport
Mass transport or mass transportation is a typical form of public transport wherein large flows of people are transported. Most common examples are subway’s, light rails, trams, bus rapid transit and airplanes. Mass transit forms a vital aspect of the transportation system in many metropolitan. For example the Paris metro system serves 1.5 billion passengers per year and the London underground subway system 1.1 billion passengers per year . Security issues of mass transport Examples from Moscow (2010), London (2005), Madrid (2004) show that mass transit systems worldwide are very vulnerable for security threats. The main reasons for targeting these systems are the large flows of people, the relatively ‘openness’ of the systems and the potential to cause large-scale disruption and fear. Also these systems are difficult to secure because of the high number of access points, the volume of the passenger flows, the few control and inspection areas, and the low-cost fares with no requirement for passenger identifications . To improve the security of mass transit systems various measures can be taken, many of them at a low-cost (all from Prieto, 2005):
- Increase the visibility and frequency of staff, security patrols and security measures
- Promoting public vigilance
- Reduce obvious hiding places for bombs, such as trashcans
- Review and rehearse immediate response and evacuation plans for obvious threats,
- Including suspicious packages, bombs, fires, and sudden outbreaks of illness
- Conduct a vulnerability assessment and review threat potential with local and federal officials
- Ensure adequacy of crisis management plans, awareness of plans, readiness of equipment, and accuracy of all contact information
- Cameras and other surveillance equipment
- Improved and interoperable communications systems
- Command and control systems and tools, and redundancy of such systems
- Increased training and exercises on prevention and emergency response, including decontamination
- Explosive and WMD detection and countermeasures, including expanded use of canine teams as well as new technologies
- Capital improvements to increase the physical security of stations, vehicles, bridges, and tunnels
- Capital improvements to improve passenger survivability in the event of an attack, including improvements in ventilation, drainage, fire safety, emergency communications, lighting, egress, and accessibility by emergency response personnel
