You've Been Warned: More NYC Buses Are Getting Cameras To Stop You From Using Their Lanes

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) keeps adding cameras to its buses throughout New York City in an attempt to catch drivers who break bus-related laws. There are now over 1,300 buses with cameras in NYC, covering 510 miles of routes throughout the city. Bus violations are a big issue in New York City, with drivers often blocking bus stops when they park. With the help of automated camera enforcement (ACE), the MTA has been catching these vehicles in the act and issuing warnings in the mail. 

More and more cameras have been added to buses throughout NYC, with the most recent cameras getting attached to buses on routes in Manhattan and the Bronx. These cameras capture videos and images — including license plate information, time stamp, and location — and are then sent to the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) for employees to review. Fines start at $50 but can reach upwards of $250 for those with multiple offenses. This is bad news for New York drivers who like to steal bus lanes to quickly grab a coffee before work or for anyone who gets a bit confused by the busy city's signage. Maybe it's time to switch to an Uber or Taxi — or even grab the bus with the city's new OMNY system. 

Automated camera enforcement has seen positive results throughout New York City, including increased bus speeds on ACE-covered routes and way fewer collisions. However, the ACE system has had its fair share of opposition from New Yorkers. These windshield-mounted cameras are powered by artificial intelligence (AI), which has led to a lot of wrongly ticketed drivers. At this point, MTA has mistakenly sent tickets to over 3,800 vehicles for blocking bus lanes — 3,000 of those tickets should have been a warning, and 800 had no infractions at all. 

One story was reported by NBC New York, with George Han receiving three violations in his mail for blocking a bus lane he'd never blocked. The MTA responded that these cameras have not been fully programmed to know they shouldn't issue violations to vehicles parked in certain areas and can sometimes fail to realize which violations should get a warning instead. "One of the purposes of the warning phase for newly activated routes is to work out any issues before anyone is actually ticketed," said MTA's Communications Director Tim Minton. "In this situation, there were programming kinks, both in mapping of curb areas and the timing of warnings themselves — all of which have now been resolved."

Due to the growth of the ACE system, bus lane fines have increased from $4.3 million to $20.9 million over the past few years — and this is just one source for the Department of Transportation. The DOT issues more than 40,000 violations per day from what it captures on red light cameras, speed cameras, and bus lane cameras. A human being should be reviewing all of these images, the DOT states, but with so many people breaking traffic laws, it seems to be a bit challenging.