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GREENSBORO — There will soon be another passenger on Greensboro’s busy buses: a surveillance camera.

The Greensboro Transit Authority plans to install 30 cameras inside buses and other passenger vehicles with the help of state and federal transportation grants.

The cameras will increase the safety of the buses, said Libby James, GTA’s public transportation manager.

“It’s another means by which we are making our vehicles states-of-the-art,” James said.

The security cameras will be installed in 25 of the GTA’s 40 fixed-route buses and five of its 42 paratransit vehicles, James said.

The City Council approved the budget for the camera project Tuesday night.

GTA buses already sport video cameras. But the cameras start recording only if the vehicle is in an accident.

“It has to be activated by a sudden stop or some other motion,” James said.

The new surveillance cameras are an upgrade to the current system. They will capture both sound and video, and will record passengers all the time.

The cameras will be useful in the case of traffic accidents, and will add security against crime, James said.

“Crime is minimal for us,” James said, “but it’s all about being proactive.”

The upgrade will be paid for with $305,000 worth of federal and state grants. Greensboro will provide about $39,000 in matching funds.

The new cameras will be added by spring. GTA plans to eventually install surveillance cameras in all its vehicles, James said.

On Tuesday afternoon, bus passengers at The Depot downtown said city buses are, by and large, safe.

N.C. A&T freshmen Nakia Miller and Kendra Brown were waiting for the HEAT bus on the way back to campus from a shopping trip to Walmart.

They said they feel secure riding the GTA buses and don’t think the cameras will make the buses safer.

“It’s not necessary,” Brown said. “Why do you need a camera?”

Christy Goode, who was waiting for the No. 12 bus, agreed buses are safe.

But she said she could see how the cameras might be useful in an emergency or in case of a crime.

“I have two teenagers who take the bus,” Goode said. “If something happened to my kids, I would want to know.”

James said the surveillance cameras are part of a greater effort to enhance the technology on the buses.

In the future, GTA might use GPS to track buses while they are in service. GTA is using a new software program that will help them schedule the paratransit service.

Both are efforts intended to better service, James said.

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com