STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Soon, the bus-mounted cameras on the S79 will begin issuing violations to drivers abusing the borough’s bus lanes, but members of MTA leadership said they believe the cameras are capable of doing even more to speed up service.
Some of the MTA’s top officials recently sat down with the Advance/SILive.com Editorial Board to discuss various projects, programs and initiatives affecting the borough, including the Automated Bus Lane Enforcement (ABLE) cameras that will begin ticketing Staten Island drivers on Friday, Dec. 30.
The cameras capture license plate information, photos and videos, along with location and timestamp information, which are sent to the Department of Transportation for review and processing, with fines being issued by the Department of Finance.
Currently, state legislation only permits the cameras to issue violations to drivers illegally using city bus lanes or blocking bus stops.
However, the agency’s top transit official said he believes the cameras have the capability of enforcing additional traffic violations that hinder bus speeds; specifically double-parked cars and illegal U-turns.
“The other thing that we’ll be asking Albany to help us with next year is to expand the legislation. Right now, it’s bus lanes and it’s bus stops,” said MTA New York City Transit President Richard Davey. “Double-parking is a big issue across the city. We’ll be asking for the opportunity to ticket double-parked cars and illegal U-turns.”
As of now, buses on the S79 SBS, which travel along the Richmond Avenue and Hylan Boulevard bus lanes, are the only Staten Island buses equipped with ABLE cameras.
When asked whether the agency plans to install ABLE cameras on other Staten Island routes, including those that travel along the Victory Boulevard and Father Capodanno Boulevard bus lanes, officials could not yet confirm, but said the agency’s plan is to install as many cameras as possible in the coming years.
“Our goal is to have ABLE enforcement anywhere we have a bus route, and then eventually anywhere we have a bus, particularly if we can get the opportunity to enforce the traffic laws, not just bus lanes, that are specific to slowing our buses down,” Davey said.
Staten Island has two fixed bus lane cameras, located along Hylan Boulevard, one in the eastbound direction at Midland Avenue and one in the westbound direction at Jefferson Avenue. From June 11 through Oct. 13, the last date currently available on the city’s Open Data portal, the two Staten Island bus lane cameras issued just 216 violations, compared to 227,072 violations issued by bus lane cameras throughout the other four boroughs.
MORE ON ABLE CAMERAS
In October, the MTA announced that it would expand the use of high-tech automated mobile cameras installed on buses to capture real-time bus lane violations along its routes in an effort to speed up service.
The ABLE cameras were first installed on 123 buses across seven routes in Manhattan and Brooklyn as a pilot program to assess the effectiveness of the automated enforcement system, as well as its effects on travel times and bus speeds.
On Staten Island, the cameras were installed on the S79 SBS, a select bus service route that travels from the Staten Island Mall in New Springville to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, with the majority of the trip occurring along Hylan Boulevard, where the street’s bus lane was extended roughly two years ago.
The S79 cameras were activated on Oct. 31, but have only been issuing warnings during a 60-day grace period to alert drivers of the new program before any fines are assessed.
However, that grace period will soon come to an end, with the cameras set to start issuing fines on Friday, Dec. 30.
Fines start at $50, escalating by an additional $50 with each subsequent offense, up to a maximum of $250 per violation.
The MTA is planning to expand the program even further in the coming year, adding the cameras to an additional 600 buses by the end of 2023, at which point the ABLE cameras will cover roughly 85% of all city bus lanes.
Staten Island only has a total of four bus lanes, which are located along portions of Hylan Boulevard, Father Capodanno Boulevard, Victory Boulevard and Richmond Avenue.
Violations are only issued during bus lane operating hours, which vary by bus lane.
On Hylan Boulevard, the bus lanes are in effect on weekdays from 6 to 9 a.m. eastbound and from 3 to 7 p.m. westbound.
On Victory Boulevard, the bus lanes are in effect on weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. northbound and from 4 to 7 p.m. southbound.
On Father Capodanno Boulevard and Richmond Avenue, bus lanes are in effect at all times, meaning drivers can be ticketed at any time of day.
OTHER STATEN ISLAND STORIES
Staten Island cameras issue less than 1% of NYC’s bus lane tickets, but that’s about to change
Bipartisan calls to extend HOV lane on Staten Island Expressway grow louder
Staffing issues force Staten Island Ferry to run reduced service over 100 times in 2022
MTA opens new hurricane-resilient Staten Island Railway maintenance shop in Clifton
