PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Mayor Jim Kenney has signed a bill permitting cameras to be mounted on SEPTA buses that will automatically ticket drivers parked in bus lanes.
Soon, when a driver is parked illegally in a bus lane, a camera mounted on a passing SEPTA bus could generate a $100 ticket or more. The cameras use artificial intelligence to automate enforcement, similar to red light and speed cameras on Roosevelt Boulevard.
Kenney on Thursday signed a bill authorizing the use of these cameras to enforce laws against blocking transit stops and bus lanes.
“One of the most annoying things about this city is people stopping their cars wherever they want to stop them — in bus lanes, double parking. It just screws everything up … and we all have to suffer from it,” he said.
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SEPTA General Manager Leslie Richards said safety was a major reason this new law was needed.
“We have to be able to get our buses into appropriate places so people can get on safely,” said Richards. She said it will also help ease traffic congestion and help bus routes run faster.
Philadelphia Parking Authority Executive Director Rich Lazer said automated enforcement should also help to change drivers’ behavior.
“We just want people not to park in the bus lanes, not to block ramps, not to block bus zones so that folks could travel the system safely and quicker,” he said.
The law allows automated enforcement on Walnut, Chestnut and Market streets, JFK Boulevard, and Bainbridge and Spring Garden streets from river to river. A 10-week SEPTA pilot earlier this year found 36,000 potential violations.
Once a vendor is hired, the system could be operating within the next six months to a year.