Global market for mass transit security to grow 76 percent by 2018

LONDON—The global mass transit security market will grow 76 percent from 2013 to 2018, according to a TechNavio report that assesses the value of this market through examining surveillance, infrastructure, and identification.

“We believe the mass transit security market in America to be valued … a little over $3.2 billion and we believe this market might go as high as $5 billion by 2018,” Navin Rajendra, senior TechNavio analyst, told Security Systems News. This would equate to a CAGR for the North American market of 11.1 percent, Jes Ellacott media relations for TechNavio told SSN by email.

Meanwhile, the global market could grow from $7.27 billion in 2013 to $12.79 billion by 2018—a CAGR of 11.96.

Rajendra said one of the main drivers to this market “has always been the need to respond [to] any catastrophic attack.”

Large investments into the infrastructure of mass transit and the need for an efficient and cost-effective system are also driving the mass transit security market, he said.

Among roads, airplanes, railroads and sea transit systems, Rajendra believes that railroads will be installing more security systems than the other transportation sectors. One reason for this, he said, is that airline security is already reasonably advanced compared to railways, which haven't advanced much.

Expansive opportunities for security integrators will not come immediately after a new transit security project is completed, but instead two or three years after, surmised Rajendra. He suggested that security companies could profit more from the maintenance and upgrading of mass transit security systems than from installation itself.

However, he noted that the bigger opportunities for security companies will be in South America and Asia, due to the North American market for mass transit security being more “matured” compared to these other regions.

Though maintenance of these systems is necessary, and Rajender considers that to be a major opportunity for integrators, he cautioned that mass transit end users must budget for and be willing to cover maintenance costs for the projected growth to come to fruition.

“It's probably a lot easier to install a new security system right in the beginning [of a project]. However, as years go by, it's also very important to maintain those systems and upgrade those systems, and that's something which we feel may not take place as often as it should be taking place,” said Rajendra.

Key vendors involved in this market shift globally and in North America are Axis Communications AB, Robert Bosch GmbH, NICE Systems, Panasonic, and Samsung, he said.

Real-time surveillance, biometric access control and identification systems, motion detection systems, and high definition video surveillance cameras are key technologies that will be used in mass transit systems, according to Rajendra.