The MTA is very serious about you taking their new SBS M15 Bus Service Lanes seriously. They don't want you parking your cars or your bikes or you butts in the lane, and they don't want you driving in it (except to make immediate right turns). Today, they announced that camera enforcement of the Service Lanes along First and Second avenues will formally begin this Monday. And it'll come with a stiff penalty: any unauthorized use of the bus lanes is subject to a $115 ticket. The MTA has also begun a charm offensive online, putting up banners ads which read, “Riding the bus costs $2.25. Driving in the bus lane costs $115. Bus lanes will now be camera-enforced." So you have till this Monday to doing something really transgressive in the bus lane unencumbered by the watchful eye of Big Brother. more ›

As the Metropolitan Transportation Authority considers far-reaching service cuts that could eliminate free Metrocards for students and nix entire subway lines, the MTA's chairman unveiled a series of agency-wide goals intended to make commuting easier. MTA Chair Jay Walder said the city's public transit needs a "top-to-bottom overhaul" because "many service improvements are long overdue and ... customers are tired of hearing excuses." more ›

The city and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority unveiled plans for an expansive overhaul of First and Second avenues intended to make commuting by bus and bicycle faster and safer. The proposed redesign stretches from Houston Street to 125th Street, and it calls for so-called select protected bike lanes, pedestrian refuges, and the implementation of so-called select bus service and other bus improvements planned to reduce travel times by 20 to 25 percent. more ›

Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Jay Walder is pushing the State Assembly to draft legislation that will allow him to install cameras in bus lanes to keep cars from obstructing the mass transit paths. Like the stop light cameras used to ID drivers who run red lights, the proposed program aims to clear the way for buses by cracking down on motorists who turn bus lanes into parking lanes, according to NY1. more ›

The bus lane on 42nd Street isn't quite living up to its name, the Daily News reports. The lane is supposed to be dedicated to the M42 bus — which just last month was called out as the city's slowest bus — but it is so congested with unauthorized vehicles that a two-mile bus trip moves at a 2.85 mph crawl (slower than the average person walks) and takes up to 43 minutes. more ›

The DOT is beginning video surveillance of the "high-visibility" terra cotta-colored express-bus lanes on 34th Street to keep cab drivers in check. Taxis are permitted to enter the bus lanes only to make the next right turn or to "expeditiously" pick up and drop off passengers, but officials think many cabbies have been using them as their own personal express lanes. As part of a six month trial, two cameras are being installed along the bus lane at 34th Street between Park and Madison, and four others will subsequently be installed along the route. Because the city is partnering with the Taxi and Limousine Commission and using the cameras to exclusively punish taxi drivers, the DOT says they don't need legislative approval. According to a press release, the city is pursuing state legislation to allow the use of bus lane cameras to punish all drivers who encroach on bus lanes. But for now the DOT will work with the TLC to enforce the traffic law, and cabbies caught driving in the terra cotta face fines up to $150. more ›