Home Buses SBS bus lane camera enforcement to start Monday

SBS bus lane camera enforcement to start Monday

by Benjamin Kabak

Starting on Monday, New York’s Select Bus Service will become even more select as the MTA and DOT are turning on five bus-lane enforcement cameras along the First and Second Ave. M15 SBS route. The city says the SBS route has sped up travel along the M15 corridor by 15 minutes, and with camera enforcement on tap, buses should move even smoother along the route.

“The City’s 2.8 million bus riders have been held hostage for far too long by motorists who routinely block bus lanes, and these cameras will send a clear message that bus lanes are for buses only,” MTA Chairman and CEO Jay Walder said in a statement. “We have already been able to speed up travel times along First and Second Avenues by more than 15 minutes on the M15 and these cameras will help to further improve service.”

The cameras were long a sticking point in the state legislature as upstate representatives objected on tenuous privacy grounds. Earlier this year, as part of a legislative compromise, Albany authorized the use of cameras along only Select Bus Service. Vehicles will be allowed to enter the dedicated bus lanes only to make the next available right turn or to “expeditiously” drop off and pick up passengers. Everyone else will be subject to a $115 fine.

Initially, five cameras will be turned on this Monday with more to come along the Manhattan SBS route and the Fordham Road corridor in the Bronx. DOT will be responsible for viewing the footage, and they will issue the summons — called here a Notice of Liability. The NYC Department of Finance will be responsible for adjudicated summons disputes.

“SBS is redefining East Side transit,” said Commissioner Sadik-Khan. “Dedicated lanes and paying before boarding are already speeding buses, and now camera enforcement will give M15 customers a VIP ride.”

These cameras will help beef up DOT’s initial video technology enforcement efforts that currently target only taxis. Until now, due to jurisdictional and home rule issues, DOT has been able to summons only taxi medallion owners who have been shown to violate bus lanes. Those disputes are heard by Taxi and Limousine Commission administrative law judges, but unfortunately, the number of summonses issued to taxi drivers has not been released to the public.

Ultimately, these cameras a much-delayed and welcome development as the city looks to speed up its bus service, but the plan isn’t perfect. Even if fewer cars are straying into the bus lane, those that are waiting to turn right or are discharging passengers have the potential to impact the SBS speeds. Ideally, the city would be building out dedicated bus lanes with physically separated rights-of-way as cities across the U.S. and Europe currently enjoy. Without it, SBS will be nothing more than a glorified version of the Limited service that falls short of a true bus rapid transit network.

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11 comments

Edward November 19, 2010 - 12:11 pm

Ben, any number on how SBS is doing after its first month of operation as opposed to regular M15 service prior to intro of SBS? I haven’t seen any numbers one way or the other.

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Benjamin Kabak November 19, 2010 - 12:13 pm

The only number I have officially is that travel times have sped up by “15 minutes,” per Walder in his statement. I’ll try to find some more detailed ridership numbers shortly. Anecdotally, I’ve heard good things.

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Edward November 19, 2010 - 12:17 pm

Thanks. I’ve done some watching myself and after the first week or so of problems, I have to say it looks like buses are going down Second Ave quicker and are not bunching up as much as they used to (totally anecdotal evidence, but there you have it).

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Michael November 19, 2010 - 1:42 pm

The more buses there are the better the service. There are definetely more select buses now then there were limited buses before. Consequently better service. When there is a gap in select buses the service gets slower as people try to squeeze on an already full bus. The issue for the MTA is the additional cost of the extra buses, the cost of the ticket vending equipment and the cost of the fare checkers in an environment were they have a budget deficit and have to increase the fare. Not sure if it makes fiscal sense because I dont see where they are going to make this money back even if they speed up the ride alittle.

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ajedrez November 19, 2010 - 7:30 pm

If the 90 minute trip speeds up by 15 minutes to 75 minutes, that is a 17% decrease in travel time, meaning the drivers can do 17% more runs in their shift. The additional runs and bus lane cameras should be able to attract more riders, since now the bus is more attractive than a taxi ride because it is faster.

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Joe November 19, 2010 - 1:22 pm

Early on, I saw as many as 6 SBS buses within 1 minute of each other going up First. They do seem more spread out now, and ridership seems to have gone up in this short time. There are crowds now at the SBS stop down at 3rd St and First during peak times.

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SEAN November 19, 2010 - 2:41 pm

Like everything else, it was just a matter of time for the MTA & the riding public to find some equalibrium with this service.

The next service change will go vertually the same way, alot of kicking & screaming at first, but after a short while everything gets figgured out. Rince & repeat.

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Nabe News: November 19 - Bowery Boogie | A Lower East Side Chronicle November 19, 2010 - 3:18 pm

[…] heed – camera enforcement along the SBS M15 route starts on Monday [Second Avenue […]

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Andrew November 21, 2010 - 11:43 am

Better than nothing, but five fixed cameras isn’t enough – we need cameras mounted on the buses themselves.

A single physically separated bus lane would have led to SBS buses making every local stop (behind the local). A dual bus lane would have been rejected by the local communities. So this is the best we can do. And if cameras were on the buses themselves, it wold be pretty good.

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pete November 22, 2010 - 7:05 pm

really? how many tickets will be issued? why shouldn’t the NYPD protect car drivers like they always do? If its not the NYPD who reviews the cameras, how many staff do they have?

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