By Gus Saltonstall
Change has come to a bus that services the Upper West Side.
The M7 was recently equipped with a system called Automated Camera Enforcement, which automatically takes photos and mails tickets to owners whose vehicles block bus stops or park illegally along bus routes, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced this month.
The M7 runs from 14th Street to 147th Street, including through the Upper West Side from West 59th Street to West 106th Street, where it turns east, then turns north on Manhattan to continue through more UWS and into Harlem. The bus operates along Amsterdam Avenue northbound and along Columbus Avenue southbound.
The 60-day warning period for the technology on the M7 began on Monday, meaning that vehicles improperly using the busways or blocking bus stops will receive warning notices in the mail, rather than an actual ticket.
Once the warning period comes to an end in August, summonses will start at $50 for drivers for the first offense and escalate to $250 for repeat violators.
The M7 will now join the M57, M79, M86, M96, and M116 as buses in the neighborhood that have the automated camera ticketing system, all of which have been installed since the fall of 2024.
The MTA states that when enforcement cameras are activated, bus lane speeds increase by 5 percent, with a 20 percent reduction in collisions. Additionally, the agency says that just 9 percent of drivers commit a second bus-lane violation after being fined once.
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This is a great idea. But not sure why there is a warning period. People should have been doing this all along. Nice way to balance the budget.
It won’t come close to balancing the budget even if they collect 100% of the summons, which would be laughable.
Stop being so literal. It is an expression. Good Lord.
Agreed. Who needs to be “warned” not to double park?
those of us who are handicapped and getting out or car or taxi into wheelchair
You have to be observed by at least 2 busses prior to being issued a summons and you can easily contest your summons if you feel you were wrongfully ticketed. Additionally, all buses are ADA accessible, and many riders are people with disabilities. When bus stops are blocked, buses can’t reach the curb, and people in wheelchairs are often unable to board. In these scenarios, buses are forced to pick up and drop off passengers in the street, creating a safety hazard for all passengers.
I’m currently using crutches and it makes better sense to get on and off at the intersection instead of the middle of the road where cars are parked. Not sure how a wheelchair would be able to squeeze in between parked cars.
Excellent!
Need it on M5 route, especially at West End Avenue, where livery drivers double and triple park with impunity.
I understand there’s a Muslim Center on 72nd and RSD, but it doesn’t mean they can triple park everywhere during prayer hours. They also block the M5 from making that turn to/from RSD.
I love this! MTA vigilantism!
They should do this with the street cleaners
I was just told by someone who needs to use a handicap parking space that they are permitted to park in the sweeping zones..
some of them, not all
There should also be a camera or other device to record those riding without paying.
And on subways as well. I regularly see mostly large men going under the turnstile with complete impunity. Nobody says anything, of course, if they value their lives.
There are already cameras on the busses. There’s multiple.
Except it’s not just bus lanes. If you’ve noticed, they made every street now an official “bus corridor”. If you’re waiting for a parking spot and two buses pass, you’re getting a ticket.
As you should. Double parking is always illegal. You delayed a whole bus full of people trying to get to work on time or home to their families. Don’t want a ticket? Don’t break the law.
How about also having cameras to photograph bus drivers ignoring elderly people knocking on the doors as they drive away? Adding cameras to document buses that neither stop for red lights nor stay in their lanes when no cars are in their way.
Buses have to stay on schedule. In too many cases the buses do exactly what you are asking them to do. Then the rider stands there digging through their pockets to pay for five minutes. Then just as the bus is finally going to leave yet another person comes along and does the same thing. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. This is why most able bodied people avoid the bus like the plague.
You snooze, you lose.
Except this doesn’t happen…
As soon as the bus starts pulling out they are not allowed to open the door. If you’re not in the bus stop when the bus is, you’ve missed your bus.
Here’s a thought. While driving in NYC is challenging, perhaps drivers should be more aware of their surroundings so they Do Not close the doors when an elderly or handicapped individual is approaching.
Well, we need this on the 104 bus for that small Silver Honda SUV with the MD plates who parks at the bus stop on Broadway (and every other school/sweeping zone). That car should be booted already. “Trooper Surgeon”
As terrible as all placards are, those Trooper Surgeon placards are especially illegitimate, the union hands them out for a small “donation” and in turn NYPD refusing to enforce any parking regulations! Nice thing about these cameras is they won’t be swayed by a placard
This system was proposed and passed several years ago, and should by now be installed on every bus on very route in all five boroughs. Why is it taking so long?
Setting apart the revenue it could generate for the City, it will (hopefully) stop selfish people from blocking bus stops, which often prevents the bus from being able to properly and efficiently pick up and discharge passengers with disabilities, since the bus often can’t get near enough to the sidewalk to lower the ramp.
Great program. But let’s speed it up, Mr. Mayor!!
Extra cost on top of operations. Also cost/revenue study to see if it’s worth it on some areas.
In case anyone has forgotten, our prior mayor was too busy flying to Istanbul & keeping himself out of prison for said trips to Istanbul. Glad to see this program being expanded under our current mayor!
This is great news. It has become untenable for drivers to safely board and unboard passengers on Columbus Avenue and along Amsterdam. Anyone getting in the way of a bus, should be ticketed. We will be safer. I would have been completely happy if there were just a date set for it to start, and no warning period. Although maybe this helps them test the system. Bravo.
I reading this for the first time. GREAT IDEA
I want to know how many people pay the fines and if the MTA bothers to collect from those who don’t pay.
Yup. Great question. And similarly, much as apparently UPS, FedEx, etc. cut deals so they don’t really pay parking tickets, don’t cut deals on this. Make them pay full freight. And each time a license plate gets penalized, increase the penalty so there is an increased cost for repeat offenders.
Ditto! Rules are fine, but unfortunately, enforcement will be the key. We’ve read so many news pieces about drivers with dozens of parking tickets, dozens of moving violations, etc. etc. who seem to continue driving around without any worry. While this bus zone camera will deter most drivers (who usually try to adhere to the law already), its the scofflaws who are not only the most dangerous and egregious offenders, but the ones who won’t care.
I think about this like the general impact of gun laws; it affects mostly those who aren’t the problem in the first place.
How about camera evidence of fare evaders?
I wish I had $1 for the many evasions I’ve witnessed (though fewer on the UWS than in other northern Manhattan neighborhoods)….
This is a great idea, but I’d like to know if there’s an appeal system. Because robots. .
I believe it’s a joke . I see plenty of vehicles with there plates covered or altered on the same route. I’m sure that doesn’t help speed buses. Somebody asleep at the switch . Police enforcement on those routes would do the trick .
The MTA has tried every trick in the book for the last couple of years and still bus speeds have not noticeably increased. Why? Because this is not the issue. Let alone the legality of buses as means of traffic enforcement.
The issue is, how long it takes for people to board the bus and pay their fare before or after somebody with a stroller or a walker needs to get on or off the bus.
Additionally cars, trucks and yes, other busses are “blocking the box“ and this is another huge contributor to bus delays.
Finally, why can’t buses stop every time at exactly the same spot?
They seem to always have their door open right at the point of small smallest clearance between the bus shelter and the bus door. Can’t somebody standardize where the bus should stop so the ramp will automatically have space to unfold and people getting off the back door aren’t walking into a mound of garbage or a fire hydrant?
These all to be doable and logical items to address, and yet the MTA seems to think that cars in the bus lane are always the only problem.
A simple visit to Spain, Portugal, UK, and the Netherlands, to name a few, demonstrates how all of this is possible, and yet here in New York City we have our heads in the sand about truly effective methods of speeding up public transportation
I think there should be special, perhaps book-able, dedicated jitneys for all the damn strollers, particularly during mid-afternoon hours. Parents and caregivers unapologetically hog the space, block the aisles and exits, and almost never fold or stow the strollers. Grocery carts and certainly wheelchairs, walkers, and rollators are managed better (on the whole); they seem more legit to me.
How about tickets/facial recognition to those who don’t pay to get ON those buses? Free, free, free, right?
Great news. Now please add cameras all over the UWS.
Awesome idea!!
We should also be ticketing drivers who park in, drive in, or otherwise block bike lanes. I wonder if it’d be possible to give e-bikers cameras to do this?
And cameras to ticket bikers (“e” or otherwise) who ignore traffic lights and speed through red lights, even while pedestrians are in the crosswalk.
Find a way to fine every one of them one single dollar and you’ll solve the city’s budget deficit in no time.
Zoom!
While we’re at it let’s put cameras on school busses and catch the dangerous drives that ignore the flashing red lights.
This is already the case in Suffolk County. Every school bus has a camera and a sign warning drivers. Amazing how effective it is.
I thought it was state law? If not, it should be.
I’ve prayed for this for years.
When I read the headline about the “automated camera ticketing system,” I thought that you were referring to pictures of fare evaders. Then I noticed that someone had already mentioned it. I understand why the bus drivers ignore fare evaders even those who enter at the front of the bus right in front of the drivers, but something has to be done. While we’re on this topic, how about the broken OMNY readers. I encounter one more than once a week.
they should have cameras that show the people who don’t pay and get on the back of the bus and don’t care about paying – just because it says FARE REQUIRED (WHICH IS A FARCE) should have cameras on the back door
I’m 72 and always pay my fare but by the time I board bus, those entering from back doors, grab seats and ride “without paying!”
Put undercover agents in back doors entrances and problem solved! Drivers need to get paid, buses need funds for maintenance, etc….and elderly need those handicap seats!!! It’s about time to reinforce payment or walk it. If you ask and don’t have funds, the driver may allow your entrance!…. Ask and smile for the photo which everyone will see in a “farebeaters” campaign! Want that??? You may get fired once your boss sees it!!!! Want that???? Then pay or walk so the elderly can get their seats back! That goes for moms that sit their children on handicap seats too
Fantastic
When are they gonna do this with alternate side parking. On my block you see the the 25% or so regulars move their cars, the others dont even show up and the sweeper goes on its merry way. Put cameras on them.