(Newswire.net — July 1, 2019) — A transportation bill aims to give bus riders quicker trips in New York City. The proposal allows the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to install more automated cameras used to enforce bus lanes rules.
The legislation comes into effect after the MTA paid $6.2 million to Siemens Mobility Inc. to buy and install automatic cameras that would capture driving activity on bus lanes in New York City. The contract also covers the warranty and supplementary computer systems that the surveillance system requires. Siemens will deliver the cameras through the end of this year and early 2020.
The legislation is set to help Mayor Bill de Blasio deliver on his promise to increase bus speeds in the city. Mr. De Blasio had promised to improve bus speeds by 25 percent within a year and would continue accelerating to better rates in the future.
A dedicated NYPD task force is in charge of towing vehicles and fining vehicles that obstruct bus lanes.
Before the law cameras were only filming drivers on 16 routes.
The bill will also do away with rules that limit the use of these cameras between 6 am and 10 pm. Anyone caught obstructing bus lanes can face massive fines of up to $250 at all times. Bus-blocking offenders will be charged $50 on their first offense, $200 on their second, and $250 for the third or more times.
The primary purpose of the bus lane camera program is to film vehicles driving, parking, or standing in the marked bus lanes, so the New York City Department of Finance (DOF) can fine them. Signs will warn drivers in areas where cameras are filming bus lanes.
The New York City council also introduced proposals to prohibit government employees from obstructing bus lanes. Traffic advocacy group, Transit Center, uploaded a video showing NYPD vehicles illegally parked in bus lanes.
We want more bus lanes, but we need NYC to clean up its act on existing bus lanes. @NYPDnews is a net negative for city bus riders: far more likely to park in bus lanes than help keep them clear. This is Utica Ave & Bergen a few mins ago @NYCMayor @NYC_DOT #BusTurnaround pic.twitter.com/uSJ7M39mtH
— TransitCenter (@TransitCenter) February 9, 2018
The legislation also launches a pilot program started in Brooklyn, and Manhattan that will equip 123 vehicles with automated enforcement cameras. These vehicles with onboard cameras in operation work the Select Bus Service route.
The MTA announced that months after the installation of bus-lane enforcement cameras in Manhattan, bus speeds have enjoyed an increase of 17 to 30 percent.
Under bus-lane rules, drivers must keep off bus lanes except when picking or dropping passengers or making a right turn. If a vehicle is filmed standing, driving, or parking in the bus lanes, the driver will be issued a Notice of Liability (NOL) 30 days after committing the offense. The DOF will give drivers a PIN and NOL number, which will allow drivers to watch a video of them committing the bus-lane violation online.
Tim Steeler, spokesperson for Carmula – a Queens auto removal service that pays vehicle owners cash for used and junk cars – argues that regulations and the ubiquitous advent of ridesharing programs, like Uber and Lyft, have contributed towards the recent upsurge of cars that the company has purchased from southern Queens and Nassau County residents.
“In 20-years of operation, we have never bought so many cars,” Mr. Steeler wrote in an email statement. “Everyday more and more people call us because they don’t want to pay any more insurance, maintenance, or tickets and fines, most of all; the city doesn’t want you driving, and more and more people are willing to rely on public transportation.”
The New York Police Department issued 2,020 bus lane violations summons in 2017. Although the number showed a five-year 74 percent drop in bus lane traffic penalties, between January and May of 2018, police and traffic officers wrote over 8,500 tickets to fine drivers who parked in bus lanes after increased pressure from advocacy groups and press coverage called for more enforcement.
Mr. Steeler contends that stricter driver rules like these are more than enough to get people to stop or limit their driving.
“People don’t want the headache of driving in the city anymore,” Mr. Steeler added. “Even if the cops don’t get you, the cameras will.”
In 2017, the DOT issued 133,000 violation fines through footage captured on bus lane cameras. According to the Office of New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, the NYC DOF collected $11,389,739 in Bus Lane Camera Fines for the 2018 Fiscal Year.