Finally: City, MTA to Test-Run Bus-Mounted Cameras On Bike Lane Blockers

The city and state are gearing up to use the MTA’s existing bus-mounted cameras to ticket drivers who illegally park in bike lanes, more than three years after state legislators gave the city Department of Transportation and MTA authority to do so.

DOT and the MTA have have had the power to ticket drivers for blocking bus lanes, blocking bus stops and double parking on bus routes and blocking bike lanes since the state expanded the on-board bus camera system to allow for enforcement outside of bus lanes in 2023. The agencies refer to the whole system as automated camera enforcement, or ACE.

ACE cameras have ticketed drivers for the three bus-related offenses since August 2024, starting with 623 buses on 14 routes. The program has since grown to cover 2,000 buses on 70 routes.

But in all of that time, the agencies have never ticketed drivers in bike lanes, despite having the authority to do so. Last year, the MTA did not directly address Streetsblog’s question of why the bike lane enforcement hadn’t begun, but suggested it was more focused on getting more cameras onto more buses rather than expanding what the cameras could do.

Now though, the agency said it’s ready to start using the awesome powers of cameras to get drivers out of bike lanes.

“We’ve tested this on the ACE system hardware and look forward to advancing a public pilot with DOT,” said MTA spokesperson Eugene Resnick.

The MTA and DOT needed to collaborate to piece together the new ticketing system. The MTA is responsible for installing the cameras on buses, and those cameras have to capture a driver committing the same traffic infraction over a five minute period. DOT employees then review and process the resulting camera footage. The city told Streetsblog that it recently completed an internal bike lane enforcement test in its own back-end, and will soon begin a public pilot.

“We’ve recently worked with MTA to complete a successful test of this concept with its ACE system and look forward to advancing a public pilot as soon as possible,” said DOT spokesperson Vin Barone.

Both DOT and street safety advocates have pursued camera enforcement against bike lane blockers for years.

In 2021, the city asked vendors for ideas on how they would set up a system to automatically ticket bike lane scofflaws, despite the fact that the agency would ultimately require Albany’s permission to ding drivers. The 2023 state budget finally expanded the authority of bus cameras to monitor traffic infractions outside the bus lane.

Camera enforcement works. MTA Executive Vice President for Buses Frank Farrell credited ACE for helping buses hit their highest citywide speed in four years this August. And in Hoboken, automated cameras that ticketed drivers in bike lanes cut the number of cars in bike lanes by 59 percent during a 2025 pilot. The Square Mile City also found that 93 percent of drivers who received a ticket for blocking a bike lane didn’t pick up a second one.

Advocates who have waited patiently for the enforcement to finally begin praised the forward movement, but also called for a clearer public timeline and for the state legislature to further expand camera enforcement to cover parking violations.

“We’re excited to hear that testing has concluded on automated bike lane enforcement under ACE, but we need a clear and transparent timeline for swift implementation,” said Michael Sutherland, the senior policy and legislative analyst at Open Plans.

“Once live, this enforcement will have a major positive impact for cyclist safety; every day without it means another day that cyclists’ safety is at risk. These camera programs work, proven by the massive success of the ACE, red light, and speed camera programs, and we also urge the state to expand automated enforcement to parking violations with S8665/A5440.”