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.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
