DOT Agrees to Relent on Bus Lane Ticketing Blitz

The NYC Department of Transportation has issued a reprieve to the many drivers who received multiple tickets for driving in the bus only lanes along the B44 Special Bus Route on Nostrand, Rogers and Bedford Avenues, some of which were for violations that occurred as much as four months ago.

The B44 SBS, which replaces the B44 Limited line, began operating from the Williamsburg Bridge to Shore Parkway and Knapp Street on November 17th, traveling northbound on Nostrand, Rogers and Bedford Avenues and southbound on Lee Avenue, Nostrand Avenue and Shore Parkway.

Bus only lanes on the route are painted red bearing the words “Bus Only” and signage clearly indicates that passenger vehicles which use the bus only lanes on Monday through Friday from 7 AM to 7 PM will be ticketed.  Cameras installed along the route, which serves over 40,000 passengers daily on its over nine mile route in order to ensure compliance, began photographing offenders on March 17th.

According to City Councilman Chaim Deutsch, while it was clear that drivers who drove in the bus lanes deserved to be ticketed, problems arose when those $115 tickets arrived not days, but months later.  Further compounding the problem, due to an error in the system, drivers were sometimes issued multiple tickets for every block they drove in the bus lanes.

“A summons from a traffic camera should arrive within 15 to 20 days,” Deutsch told VIN News.  “When you get that ticket, it is a warning not to drive in those bus lanes again.

The fact that it took three months for the summons to arrive means that during that time, those drivers didn’t get that warning and they erroneously continued to drive in the bus lanes for weeks.  Furthermore, the system wasn’t supposed to give a summons for every block.”

One anonymous woman who received approximately $700 worth of tickets acknowledged that even using the bus lanes to get around double parked cars was the wrong course of action but said that the fact that the DOT delayed issuing tickets caused the fines to mount astronomically.

Deutsch said he was first made aware of the issue one week ago.

“I personally heard from about 20 people, with anywhere from just one summons to someone who had about $10,000 worth of summonses,” said Deutsch.

Deutsch contacted both the DOT and the Department of Finance, who agreed to waive all tickets, except for the initial offense, issued between March 17th and July 25th on the B44 SBS route.  Refunds will be issued to those who have already paid for multiple summonses.

“I applaud the quick response that I received and am gratified by today’s decision set forth by the Department of Transportation who dismissed all but first bus lane violation,” said Deutsch.