Bus Lane Camera Busts Coming To Brooklyn's Busiest Route

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — Be ready to be busted if you block bus lanes on Brooklyn's busiest bus artery.

Starting Thursday, new cameras mounted on B46 Select Bus Service route buses will help officials ferret out motorists who block, drive in or otherwise obstruct dedicated bus lanes, the MTA announced.

The amped-up enforcement on Brooklyn's most-traveled bus route hopefully will speed up rides for its 35,000 daily weekday straphangers, the MTA said.

Speeds on Manhattan's M14 bus route jumped 55 percent after MTA installed the cameras to monitor the corridor, which includes a busway stretch on 14th street that restricts private traffic, according to the MTA.

“We recognize our current and potential customers desires to speed up the bus system, and continue to use the lessons learned from the M14 busway, namely well enforced bus priority, as the key to achieving a world class bus system that customers choose as their preferred transportation," Craig Cipriano, Acting MTA Bus Company President and Senior Vice President for Buses, said in a statement.

The B46 Select Bus Service route runs from Kings Plaza to DeKalb Avenue in Bed-Stuy, with stops in between in Crown Heights and East Flatbush.

Transit officials plan to use a camera system they call Automated Bus Lane Enforcement, a release states. It captures license plates, photos, videos, location and timestamp information to spot and identify vehicles blocking bus lanes, the release states.

Motorists who remain in a bus lane without exiting at the first possible right turn, or are spotted by two successive buses blocking lanes will receive tickets, according to the release.

The system has checks to make sure vehicles making permitted turns aren't ticketed and city Department of Transportation officials will review the evidence, the MTA said.

There will be a 60-day grace period after the camera system becomes active so that motorists receive warnings instead of tickets, the MTA said.

"At the end of this grace period, motorists who continue to block bus lanes will be subject to a fine of $50 for the first violation, and for additional violations within a 12-month period: $100 for a second offense, $150 for a third offense, $200 for a fourth offense; and $250 for a fifth violation and each subsequent offense thereafter within a 12-month period," the MTA release states.

More information on the B46 Select Bus Service route can be found here.