MTA Bus Cameras Ticket 1,500 Vehicles In 10 Days, Officials Say

NEW YORK — New York City's buses have become real shutterbugs. Dozens of cameras mounted on MTA buses caught more than 1,500 vehicles blocking bus lanes in just 10 days, transit officials said Thursday.

The cameras attached to 51 buses on Manhattan's M15 Select Bus Service route snapped photos of 1,529 lane-blockers starting Oct. 7, MTA officials said.

The early numbers are promising for the new effort to fine drivers who slow down commutes by impeding buses in dedicated lanes, transit officials say. The MTA plans to more than double the number of camera-equipped buses in the coming months.

"For the first time, we are able to help the City enforce (bus lanes), and this shows how serious we are about safely speeding up service for our bus riders," New York City Transit President Andy Byford said in a statement.

Drivers who block the lanes will get a warning in the mail for the first 60 days of the camera enforcement program, but they'll have to pay a $50 fine after that, the MTA says.

The transit agency says it plans to have cameras on 123 buses on the M15, M14 and B44 Select Bus Service routes by the end of November.

The camera system collects several pieces of evidence that gets reviewed by the city's Department of Transportation to ticket drivers who willfully block bus lanes, officials said. Drivers will get tickets if they sit in a bus lane for at least five minutes or are caught blocking a lane by two successive buses, accoriding to the MTA.

Better bus lane enforcement is crucial to Mayor Bill de Blasio's effort to increase city bus speeds 25 percent by the end fo 2020. While the MTA operates the buses, the city oversees the roads on which they travel.

De Blasio's transportation department also uses several fixed bus lane cameras that issued 198,509 violations in the first nine months of this year, according to a department spokesperson.

"For years, we had overhead cameras along routes like the M15, but adding enforcement cameras to the buses themselves will help us further keep bus lanes clear — allowing tens of thousands of commuters to keep moving," city Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said in a statement.