The recent launch of The Hub Lines feels all too familiar.
Launching in September 2023, Lucas Gordon, Comm and created QBarLive, providing students with real-time video footage of student bar lineups. The site racked up nearly 200,000 visits in total before its closure in 2024, coinciding with Gordon’s graduation.
Recognizing the loss and demand for real-time Hub line updates, Spencer Keene, MSc ’24, and Tyler Elliott, MSc ’25 co-created the website, The Hub Lines. In an interview with The Journal, they shared the inspiration behind starting the new service.
READ MORE: The mastermind behind QBarLive speaks on inception and termination
“We knew there was a need when that site [QBarLive] went down. People still wanted to check out the lines before they went out, so we figured it seemed feasible to start a new [similar service],” Elliott said.
Like QBarLive, The Hub Lines system uses cameras installed in residential buildings across Kingston’s nightlife hub—at the corner of Princess St. and Division St.—streaming footage directly to their where s can view live updates. Unlike its predecessor, The Hub Lines operates using YouTube’s free hosting service, reducing costs and providing higher-resolution streams according to Keene and Elliot.
“We’re hosting it through YouTube, which means that we keep it live 24/7, while [QBarLive] was only running it from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. by Lucas [the founder of QBarLive],” Elliot said.
Despite the site’s utility, the placement of cameras in residential buildings and recording people in public spaces could raise questions about privacy and consent. While Canadian law generally permits filming in public areas, the real-time nature of these streams amplify general concerns for personal security and data misuse.
“In of apartment buildings, we have privacy taken care of—our cameras don’t look into any buildings, and we use privacy screens on any windows across the way […] In of the line, we don’t have any privacy measures other than the fact that the cameras don’t record audio,” Keene explained.
According to Keene and Elliot, Kingston’s layout—where student housing is closely integrated with nightlife districts—has made The Hub Lines possible.
“Kingston’s really unique because it’s such a compact student hub,” Elliot noted. “In other cities, we might have to partner with businesses instead of tenants to get the right camera placements.”
Looking to the future, Keene and Elliot have considered further site enhancements, including computer-driven analysis, text notifications, and face-blurring technologies. Keene suggested using a computer model to detect lines in the video and send text message notifications letting them know where the lineup is.
While The Hub Lines doesn’t currently offer face-blurring technology for privacy, Keene and Elliot are open to exploring it, recognizing its potential benefits in preserving people’s anonymity.
“I had my own excitement seeing it work again but also seeing the excitement in other people—knowing we put that together for them is pretty rewarding itself,” Keene said.
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