DOT and MTA Begin Crackdown on Vehicles in Bus Lanes
Buses on selected routes in Manhattan will automatically photograph vehicles parked in bus lanes and send out a summons within two weeks in a bid to speed the tortoise-like progress of buses that average only 9 mph during rush hours. Fines can now range from $50 to $250.
| 19 Aug 2024 | 05:25
Crackdown Day 1: MTA Senior Vice President Frank Annicaro, NYC’s bus czar, took the task of informing a van driver that he could not discharge passengers in the bus lanes on the first day of a crackdown on Aug. 19. By that point, the M34 SBS bus behind him had already taken images that will be sent out, with a ticket within two weeks of the violation. (
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If you are parked in a bus stop or double parked in a bus lane, watch out! The bus behind you may or may not have a camera array against the windshield; given the glass tinting in the front of the bus, there is no easy way to tell. Guess wrong, and you are out at least $50. (
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The view from inside and MTA bus that is equipped with the new traffic cameras to photograph vehicles blocking bus lanes. While not everyone MTA bus will carry them, if you are parked in a bus lane and get nabbed by one of the cameras, it will cost you a $50 fine. (
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Car owning Manhattanites, beware!
The NYC Transit buses on Aug. 19 finally began to record illegal bus lane behavior that could land vehicles that block bus stops or double park fines which start at $50 and increase up to $250 for repeat violators.
Two months after it began telling drivers they could be fined in the future, NYC Transit Senior Vice President of Buses Frank Annicaro rode the crosstown M34 bus on day one of the new crackdown from 11th Avenue to 5th Avenue and back with news media representatives.
As the eastbound bus stopped at the 7th Ave. stop, a passenger van was occupying the bus stop. Click went the cameras—the first “catch” of the day.
On the return trip, another van stopped to unload its passengers at W. 34th, and Eighth Avenue, fouling the right hand bus lane (there are two lanes here, where non-bus vehicles can turn right onto 8th, but not stop there). Click again, as the three devices mounted inside the front window of the bus made sure that the violation would be noted.
In this instance, Annicaro alighted from the bus to tell the van driver to move.
He is the man with the ACE up his sleeve; ACE has been used for violation enforcement of vehicles blocking bus lanes on 14 bus routes.
Annicaro noted the rides, “Today we are speeding along. The buses along their route are able to maintain their schedules.”
ACE (Automated Camera Enforcement) captures by still and video cameras mounted inside the front window, images of the license plate, the location and time stamp information of vehicles in bus lanes. What has been recorded is downloaded at bus depots, then transmitted to NYC agencies for review and processing.
It is expected that by the end of this year, there will be 1,023 ACE equipped buses across 33 routes all over the city, There are currently over 5,800 buses and 325 routes in the system at present. Each street and avenue with ACE camera enforcement has signage indicating that those routes are camera-enforced. Drivers, do take note.
The current 623 buses on the current 14 routes that are enabled with lane enforcement technology are now updated with a state-of-the-art AI-based enforcement package that allows expanded enforcement at the bus stops and double-parking locations. Ideally, with the new configuration, there should be a 5 percent speed increase, 20 percent less collisions, and up to 10 percent less emissions. Additionally, more buses should be able to pull to the bus stop curb rather than being forced to swerve around parked cars.
The ACE program is administered in partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation and the New York City Department of Finance. While the MTA receives the lions share of the fines, the two city agencies also receive some of the violation fees for their involvement with the program.
Of those already fined for the violations, less than 10 percent commit the same act again, transit officials said.