As Stockton continues to invest in public infrastructure and city planning, a new approach to transit technology is gaining attention across the U.S. and Europe — one that promises to help cities run more efficient bus and rail networks without placing surveillance cameras on passengers.
French technology company Acorel has developed a computer vision system that tracks passenger flow on public transit in real time, but without recording video, collecting personal information, or using any form of facial recognition. The system uses overhead counting sensors inside vehicles to measure how many people board and exit at each stop, how full a bus is at any given moment, and where congestion tends to build across a route network.
For cities like Stockton — where the San Joaquin Regional Transit District serves a large and geographically spread-out population on a tight budget — that kind of data could be genuinely useful. Transit agencies could see exactly which routes are overcrowded and which are underused, make smarter decisions about where to send more buses during peak hours, and build more accurate long-term plans for service improvements, all based on what’s actually happening on the ground rather than estimated ridership models.
The privacy angle matters too, particularly in California, where residents and lawmakers have shown sustained interest in limiting how government agencies collect and use personal data. Acorel’s system is built around a privacy-by-design approach — meaning no personal data is gathered in the first place, making compliance with state and federal privacy standards straightforward. No footage is stored. No individual rider is ever identified.
“Computer vision can be a powerful optimization tool when it is designed responsibly,” said Dimitri Rudenko, Business Development and Project Director at Acorel. “Efficiency and data protection are not contradictory — they are complementary.”
The system operates in buses, trams, trains, and other transit formats and is designed to maintain accuracy during rush hour and in low-light conditions. It is fully compliant with GDPR, the European Union’s data protection framework, which sets a high bar comparable to California’s own CCPA standards.
As Stockton’s city planners weigh investments in smarter, more responsive public services, technologies that improve operational performance without expanding surveillance infrastructure represent a direction worth watching.
More information is available at acorel.com or by contacting [email protected].
