RATP Dev USA

The jolt you feel when you slam on your brakes, the way your heart races as you narrowly escape an almost accident, the quick glances you take to ensure your passengers are okay, the deep breath you release when it’s all over – it all happens in a matter of seconds. Whether by your own human error, or that of someone you share the road with, or a factor outside of your control willing this scenario in to action, many of us can relate to these sensory feelings – whether you’re the driver, a passenger, or even a bystander.

You may be thinking about your driving habits in your personal vehicle. Now think about drivers who operate vehicles over 35 ft., who transport over 30 passengers in a single trip, for hours at a time, through peak traffic – think about public transit. As the world evolves, individuals are seeking transit options that are efficient, more affordable, and most importantly, safer.

It’s the nature of the business – incidents happen. In the past, securing clear, accurate, and reliable video equipment on a fleet of vehicles was more uncommon than you think, leaving agencies to hypothesize or scramble for public footage of an incident to identify the root cause and/or conduct further analysis by reviewing hours of footage. This extends the time of an open investigation, leaves the public, our clients (agencies), public officers, and more with questions regarding disciplinary actions, remedies to prevent the incident from reoccurring, and lessons to be learned for future safety and training purposes.

“SmartDrive’s ability to quickly and efficiently identify coaching opportunities allows us to proactively reduce incidents while engaging our operators so they understand where they can improve performance. It is critical to understand why an event has occurred, so you can coach your drivers or praise them for a job well done.”

Mike Anderson, VP of Safety and Security

The SmartDrive® system is installed on RATP Dev fleets as part of the SMS solution, drive2zero. As drive2zero is implemented at RATP Dev agencies across the US, SmartDrive technology captures real-time footage that is recorded and stored to analyze driver behavior as part of training programs – in non-emergency situations or used to display the undisputable facts – in the event of an incident.

“If you think about the old saying ‘A picture speaks a thousand words’- well video is even better”, says Patrick Manley, Regional Director of Safety and Security at RATP Dev USA, “It really is the whole truth.”

“I value our partnership in safety and look forward to working with you all for many years in the future. Thank you for your attention to our company and support.”

Mike Anderson, VP of Safety and Security

RATP Dev USA provides transportation services to the public, helping transit agencies across the US transport passengers throughout their communities for over 45 years. Believing in a safer, smarter transportation ecosystem, drive2zero™ – RATP Dev’s Safety Management System (SMS) – was born. Led by Mike Anderson, RAPT Dev USA’s VP of Safety and Security, drive2zero is aimed at increasing safety culture among agencies in the transit industry using a multifaceted approach, including live video recordings of the fleet.

SmartDrive has helped bring clarity to safety. As one of four crucial components of drive2zero, Safety Assurance is the gathering of data on each transit system, the analysis of that data to determine if the safety risk controls originally generated are effective, and if not, the decisions regarding what appropriate corrective action should be taken. With the SmartDrive program, RATP Dev and agency leadership can access the recorded footage and correlate data to ensure sound decision making. If you can record and watch footage of a driver, and how they responded to a planned or unplanned event and learn from it to prevent similar incidents in the future, you drastically impact safety. In some cases, the implementation of drive2zero has significantly reduced the number of accidents occurring each year.