Relates to mass transit photo device enforcement of owner liability for failure of an operator to comply with bus lane restrictions

Summary of specific provisions

Sections 1 to 6 of the bill would amend various provisions of Public Authorities Law (PAL) § 1209-a to authorize the Transit Adjudication Bureau (TAB) to adjudicate notices of liability for violation of bus lane restrictions enforced by photo devices in accordance with proposed Vehicle and Traffic Law (VTL) § 1111d, and notices of violation of bus lane restrictions issued manually by authorized Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) employees in accordance with VTL § 238. The penalty schedule to be used by TAB is set forth in the proposed VTL 1111-d and is the same as the penalty schedule used by the NYC Parking Violations Bureau set forth in recently enacted VTL § 1111-c.

Sections 7 to 10 of the bill would amend VTL § 401(5-a) so that the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles is authorized to deny a motor vehicle registration application or renewal for violation of proposed VTL § 1111-d, the same as DMV is authorized to do for recently enacted VTL §1111-c.

Section 11 of the bill would make a technical amendment to VTL §1111-c(d) to clarify that technicians employed by NYC, MTA or NYCTA may prepare the certificate portion of the notice of liability. Such authority is already provided for in VTL § 1111-c(g)(4), which provides that the notice of liability shall be prepared by a designated NYC agency or any other entity authorized by NYC, which includes MTA or NYCTA.

Section 12 of the bill would add a new section 1111-d to the VTL, modeled upon and expanding upon the success of recently enacted VTL §1111-C. Proposed VTL § 1111-d authorizes the use of photo devices for the enforcement of violation of bus lane restrictions in any designated bus lane, similar to the photo device enforcement being successfully used on SBS routes specified in VTL § 1111-c.

Sections 13 to 19 of the bill would amend VTL §§ 1809(1) and 1809-e(1)(a) to except from the imposition of certain surcharges, violations of proposed VTL § 1111-d, just as violations of VTL § 1111-c are also excepted.

Section 20 of the bill would amend Public Officers Law § 87(2)(1) to provide that photographic or other recorded images produced by a bus lane photo device prepared pursuant to proposed VTL § 1111-d (the same as under VTL § 1111-c) may be excepted from public inspection and copying. Section 21 of the bill provides that the act would take effect 90 days after it becomes law.

Justification

Last year, the Legislature enacted VTL § 1111-c, which authorized the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) and the MTA to enforce bus lane restrictions using photo devices on five (5) specified SBS routes. This legislation has reduced the travel times for the approximately 100,000 daily riders of these routes by giving DOT and MTA more effective tools for enforcing existing bus lane restrictions. This bill would expand on the success of the current law by authorizing the MTA to use photo devices to speed up bus service and save travel time on the remaining approximately 50 miles of designated bus lanes, which carry approximately 500,000 daily riders.

The MTA uses approximately 65 miles of designated bus lanes across all five (5) boroughs of NYC, carrying approximately 600,000 daily riders. This extensive network of bus lanes is not used as effectively and efficiently as it could be, however, because violations of bus lane restrictions are so widespread. The MTA estimates that at an average given time during rush hour traffic, there are approximately 50 cars, 30 delivery trucks and 70 taxis/limousine illegally parked (i.e., not expeditiously loading or unloading) in designated bus lanes, often directly hindering the movement of thousands of bus passengers.

A single bus in a designated bus lane carriers an average of 35 riders, occupying the same space as two (2) cars, which frequently have only one or two occupants in each car. Given the inherently much greater efficiency of buses to move large numbers of the public along the extremely congested streets of NYC, it is critical that MTA be authorized to do everything it can to speed up bus travel time, which camera enforcement has been shown to accomplish.

Under the proposed legislation, the designated bus lanes where camera enforcement is authorized would be clearly signed and marked. The MT A would use cameras on successive buses and/or other vehicles to take video that fully documents the violation. The MTA would carefully review the video to ensure that it clearly shows a violation. The MTA would then mail a notice of liability to the owner of the vehicle, including a link to a secure and private website with video and images of the violation. The MTA Transit Adjudication Bureau (TAB)

would receive payment for violations and adjudicate any disputes, which TAB has been efficiently doing for other transit infractions for the past 25 years.

The MTA's goal with camera enforcement is to keep NYC's bus lanes clear to make the riding public's trips faster and more predictable and reliable. Initially the MTA hopes that the violation payments would cover a substantial part of the cost to implement and maintain the program. The MTA expects that as the program is expanded, it will deter violations, thereby improving bus service while reducing the issuing of notices of liability. The MTA's goal and expectation is not to generate revenue -it is just the opposite: the fewer notices of liability that the MTA has to issue means that fewer violations are occurring, so the better the bus service will be for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.

Prior legislative history

2011: S.5559- Advanced to Third Reading

Effective date

This bill would take effect 90 days after the bill becomes law, with provisions.