Attention Staten Island drivers: MTA S79 bus-mounted cameras to begin issuing tickets this month - silive.com
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Automated enforcement cameras installed on S79 buses will begin issuing bus lane tickets on Friday, Dec. 30. (Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-Hammel)Staten Island Advance
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The new automated enforcement cameras installed on Staten Island's S79 SBS buses will officially be issuing tickets by the end of the year.
In October, the MTA announced that it would expand the use of high-tech automated mobile cameras installed on buses to capture real-time bus lane violations along its routes in an effort to speed up service.
The Automated Bus Lane Enforcement (ABLE) cameras were first installed on 123 buses across seven routes in Manhattan and Brooklyn as a pilot program to assess the effectiveness of the automated enforcement system, as well as its effects on travel times and bus speeds.
The cameras are now being added to an additional 300 buses across nine routes on Staten Island, in the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. Upon completion, the cameras will cover roughly half of all New York City bus lane miles.
The cameras capture license plate information, photos and videos, along with location and timestamp information, which are sent to the Department of Transportation for review and processing, with fines being issued by the Department of Finance.
On Staten Island, the cameras were installed on the S79 SBS, a select bus service route that travels from the Staten Island Mall in New Springville to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, with the majority of the trip occurring along Hylan Boulevard, where the street's bus lane was extended roughly two years ago.
The S79 cameras were activated on Oct. 31, but have only been issuing warnings during a 60-day grace period to alert drivers of the new program before any fines are assessed.
However, that grace period will soon come to an end, with the cameras set to start issuing fines on Friday, Dec. 30.
Fines start at $50, escalating by an additional $50 with each subsequent offense, up to a maximum of $250 per violation.
Violations are only issued during bus lane operating hours, which in the case of Hylan Boulevard means from 6 to 9 a.m. eastbound, and from 3 to 7 p.m. westbound.
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On Richmond Avenue, bus lanes are in effect at all times, meaning drivers can be ticketed at any time of day.
The MTA is planning to expand the program even further in the coming year, adding the cameras to an additional 600 buses by the end of 2023, at which point the ABLE cameras will cover roughly 85% of all city bus lanes.
"As more and more bus lanes and busways are camera-enforced, we hope that drivers begin to change their way of thinking and avoid blocking a bus lane," said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. "New Yorkers need drivers to comply with bus lane rules regardless of whether they are camera enforced, so err on the side of caution and avoid a ticket".
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M'kay...
Paper over the plates, and wear a mask