Building a better bus system: The need for lane enforcement

Yesterday marked a big day for the MTA’s and City’s joints efforts aimed at improving the bus lane for bus-lane camera enforcement went live. Today, two articles highlight the various approaches and attitudes to lane enforcement techniques.

At Transportation Nation, Alex Goldmark reports on the NYPD’s recent ticketing blitz. As of Nov. 17, police officers have written 13,833 summonses to those blocking bus lanes — and that, Goldmark notes, is without the aid of cameras. In essence, officers have written 350 tickets per day since the 1st and 2nd Ave. Select Bus Service lanes went live and have generated $1.6 million in revenue. I’m happy to see such institutional support for a key transportation initiative, but I wonder why a similar ticketing blitz wasn’t as publicized along Fordham Road as it has been along the East Side.

The second article worthy of attention comes from C.J. Hughes of The Times, and it focuses on drivers annoyed by the bus-only lanes. For years, the city has had “bus lane” stenciled on its avenues, and for years, few have bothered to obey the law. The money quote comes from a limo driver from Staten Island who said, “This is crazy. Bloomberg needs to go to a psychologist. He closed the whole city.”

Officials have promised that drivers will be allowed to unload but stopping for errands will not be tolerated. “It’s important that people understand that these are rules and they need to be followed, but they will not be enforced in an arbitrary way,” East Side Assembly representative Brian Kavanagh said.