Suspicious tracking device found on MTA bus in Staten Island

Odd short story about a tracking devise found by a couple of maintenance workers on an oil pan of a bus.

Police searched all the buses at the depot, no other tracking devices were found, and it was not explosive.

Very odd, why track a bus that has a schedule?

Police are trying to determine who placed a mysterious tracking device on an MTA bus at a depot in Staten Island.

Two maintenance workers at the Yukon Bus Depot on Yukon Ave. in New Springville found the tracker attached to an oil pan at about 11 a.m.. Wednesday.

MTA officials called police, and NYPD Emergency Service Unit cops swarmed the depot, searching each bus and the terminal itself looking for additional devices, sources said.

Cops said the device was not explosive and was “not known to the MTA.”

www.nydailynews.com...

a reply to: seasonal


Very interesting,it would be nice to know who was behind this bus
being tracked.

a reply to: seasonal

Only reason I could think of is the administration running it, possibly to save on insurance to prove they're not speeding? But they wouldn't need to be so sneaky about it.

And whoever did put it there obviously had access to the underbelly so to speak.

a reply to: seasonal

Could of fallen off of another vehicle and somehow got picked up by the bus. Seems kind of pointless to track a bus.

a reply to: seasonal

IMO, it has the hallmarks of an alphabet agency being involved - seems like a way to calibrate and test GPS tracking and/or related integrated technology in real-time via an easily tracked, scheduled target.

How bad does everyone want this to be part of a secret spy story?!

Maybe it was trial running to see if it would be discovered?

a reply to: seasonal

Only thing I can think of for tracking a bus that stops at the same place everyday would be to nail down the average time it shows up at various places over a week or a month. Why that would be important, I have no idea.

a reply to: Sublimecraft
I was thinking that maybe a device used to track the bus til it gets to a specific location then a main "event" could be triggered remotely. Maybe something like a duffle bag, or backpack left on the bus.

IMO, it has the hallmarks of an alphabet agency being involved - seems like a way to calibrate and test GPS tracking and/or related integrated technology in real-time via an easily tracked, scheduled target.

a reply to: seasonal

Bus schedules are only there to give the passenger some idea of how late the bus is, not what time it will actually arrive.

Knowing, as I do, how frustrating it is to purchase a ticket for a days travel, only to find that the bus service does not run to time, that buses are routinely cut from service without any warning to potential passengers, and that the company running the lack of service will still be paid more than their service is worth, even if they do not deliver said service, I would be tempted to put trackers on buses, so that I could prove what I have long suspected about the quality of service, and value for money issues they present.

That being said, to provide a comprehensive proof that bus companies are some of the most terribly badly run, disorganised crapshows ever to grace the species history, would require more than one sampled bus route, and more than one bus running upon it.

I wonder what made THIS bus unique enough to track?

a reply to: seasonal

Maybe someone found it on their car and decided to put it on a bus to "throw them off the scent".

Happens in the movies lol...

Many private eyes use different kinds of tracking devices maybe this was a cheating wife or husband who knows they are being watched??

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: Sublimecraft
I was thinking that maybe a device used to track the bus til it gets to a specific location then a main "event" could be triggered remotely. Maybe something like a duffle bag, or backpack left on the bus.

IMO, it has the hallmarks of an alphabet agency being involved - seems like a way to calibrate and test GPS tracking and/or related integrated technology in real-time via an easily tracked, scheduled target.

This is the one idea that makes sense so far.

That's pretty unusual...

All MTA buses already have tracking enabled so commuters can see how far the bus is from their stop.

BusTime

It's generally pretty accurate and can be tracked publicly at the url above so I'm not sure what the point of adding one when the city has already put there for you is.

Maybe a test of some sort.

a reply to: Djarums
It could be a hoax.

What it boils down to is how sophisticated the device is. This would tell who and maybe why. This of course is something we will never know. We will never hear about this again, POOF gone.

It's generally pretty accurate and can be tracked publicly at the url above so I'm not sure what the point of adding one when the city has already put there for you is.

I vaugley remember staggering into a garage with my girlfriend be honest stick and meant to drop it in her purse, it all makes sense now...

a reply to: butcherguy

meanwhile - in the rational world - it makes zero sense what so ever

think about this for one second - i dare you

IF you have a " back pack on the bus " track the fooking backpack - simples

a reply to: Djarums

But I would assume that all it tells you is that a number 6 bus is now due in two minutes, thirty six seconds. But I will bet that it does not tell you WHICH number 6 bus is due in two minutes and thirty six seconds.

in no particular order :

test // calibration of someones tracking system makes sense - but think home made - lo tech . this is a shoestring operation - a real spy agency would use thir own vehicle // driver as a " fox " and give him a mandate to attempt to break the track - by driving through tunnels // alleyways - under buildings etc

the " private eye tracker " relocated to the bus by someone who found it on thier vehicle - makes no sense - if i found a tracker on my car - i would attach it to my next door neighbours car - the reason why should be fooking obvious

i have lost the will to look at other replies

There are already means in place to track the bus on its normal route. Which suggests that an alternate means of tracking would apply to an alternate route. Of whose design or intent, I don't know.

Do you think we will ever hear anything more about this?

Of whose design or intent, I don't know.

a reply to: Vroomfondel