MTA Czar To Put Cameras On Buses To Catch Lane Blockers

MTA CEO Jay Walder says this bus lane deserves the same respect as train tracks.

During his first day on the job, new MTA CEO Jay Walder announced a plan to install cameras on the front of city buses to take photos of any vehicles obstructing bus lanes. Like the city's red-light cameras, tickets will be issued automatically. Walder insists the innovation drastically improved the on-time performance of buses in London, where Walder worked before taking over the MTA. In February, the DOT began video surveillance of the "high-visibility" terra cotta-colored express-bus lanes on 34th Streets, but this would be the first time buses were used for enforcement.

In an interview with WCBS Monday, Walder said, "You and I would never think of stopping our car on a train track, but some how the idea of stopping a car in a bus lane seems acceptable. It's not." Absolutely. Now, can we get these cameras for our bicycles to automatically issue tickets to bike lane blockers? Walder plans to implement other new technology in the transit system, including new E-Z swipe cards to ride buses and subways and more countdown clocks to tell you how much longer your beard will grow as you wait for the G.

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By John Del Signore in News on October 7, 2009 11:00 AM

Comments [rss]

ozik

Why not put giant Mad Max crushing bulldozer blades on the front of buses? Cut out the middle-man.

silver

1 or 2 decades too late.

holyfrjole

You're allowed to be in the bus lane if turning right - so will that be an affirmative defense? If not, then the lawsuits caused by buses hitting cars turning from the left lane across the bus lane may just cost more than the money generated by the city with this asinine plan.

Bonneykate

I ride the 34th street bus every day and I LOVE this idea. But there is one offender not mentioned above - although the police are prime offenders - and that is the Access-A-Ride vans. Now, I'm all for giving them a pass because how else to drop of and pick up elderly or handicapped folks, but I was wondering what the rule is on these vans. If I make it across 34th from 10th Avenue to Lex and we don't have to detour around an Access-A-Ride van, I start looking behind me to see if the sun is coming up in the West!.

NYCSniper

Gee, where will the COPS get all the money to pay these tickets? Over 50% of the time, it's NYPD I see parked in bike lanes.

IvoryJive

Not sure I understand. DOT tried to do this last year. They got a bill submitted to install traffic enforcement cameras on buses. The bill was overwhelmingly (40-7) approved by the city council and then defeated in Albany 14-11, largely because of suspicious opposition from upstate assembly member and transportation committe chair David Gantt:

http://www.streetsblog.org/2008/06/18/assembly-transpo-committee-kills-bus-lane-enforcement-bill/

What is Walder going to do differently?

trollox

now wouldn't it be nice if they did enforcement like this for cars in the bike lanes? Or maybe buses in the bike lanes?

trollox

last time i checked they are pretty heavy on giving out tickets for sidewalk riding

especially when its 3am and their is no one on the side walk and you have to hop on for 2 seconds to avoid a car/bus in the bike lane, or are hoping up to dismount instead of doing it in the middle of traffic.

but keep on hating.

thefacts

Yes, and maybe for bikes on sidewalks.

Gwinny

oh, thefacts. so full of hate. it's getting super-old, my friend. most cyclists are with you on the rudeness of riding bikes on the sidewalks, but go ahead and keep on projecting the idea that the minority (sidewalk riders, etc.) are 'in fact' the majority.

aspiringrapper

Swell. Now, how about cameras on the back doors of buses to catch fare evaders?

silver

Then the brudas will open the emergency window, swing it out, grab you by the belt and pull you in.

schadenfreudian mensch

I hope if he's going to introduce an "Oyster"-like card like that of London that they have that whole hacked and riding for free fixed....or maybe not. I'm a sucker for freebies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7516869.stm

Gothamist_Cynic

This is going to be awesome. There's going to be a lot of cops, government officials, and delivery guys getting tickets.

nicemarmot

Delivery guys yes, but no way will they actually ticket cops and government officials who block the lane.

just saying

Bad news for the kamikaze cab drivers.

ides_of_march

I get the feeling that any car that happens to come into the camera's field of vision will be getting a ticket.

hotstepper

i like this guy already.

Noreaster76

I'm with you. Walder rocks the party.

CR

Want to speed up buses all over the city? Stop letting people get off the bus in the front when people are trying to get on. I realize that the doors in the back are teh suck and your average person has no idea how to operate them, and the elderly generally seem afraid of them (and that could be because of the drop to the curb you might have to take getting off, so maybe it's time to come up with a better system for all that. You get on in the front, exit in the back.

ivyleaguecrew

i have a fear of yelling "back door!" and the driver not hearing me, so the doors don't open and i look like an ass waiting for the next stop...

Think2wice

When it gets to that point, you have complete license to go stomping to the front of the bus filled with righteous indignation and say "you didn't open the back door, please let me off at the next curb!" (Your fellow riders know what happened at the back door and they have your back).

If the driver then gives you some BS about getting off at the next stop, that's you're cue to got to Level 3 Crazy. Drivers don't want crazies on their bus.

If in the future you were to see said driver again, then be all politeness and pleasantries like it's all water under the bridge. The driver probably won't remember you, but if (by some miracle) he/she does, then that driver will know better than give you BS.

barryap

I work on 34th and have to walk a few blocks through tourists gawking and standing four abreast. Those bus lanes are a godsend for walking in.