Three Years in the Making
For too long, New York City has watched drivers treat bike lanes like personal parking garages. Now, the Mamdani administration and the MTA are finally ready to flip the switch on automated enforcement. Drivers who illegally park in bike lanes will be ticketed using existing bus-mounted cameras as the city and state prepare to act, more than three years after the authority was established.
This isn’t just a new policy; it’s a long-overdue correction. State legislators gave the Department of Transportation and the MTA the green light back in 2023, but the rollout has been painfully slow. While the system has ticketed drivers for blocking bus lanes and stops since August 2024, bike lane enforcement has been completely absent until now. That changes this week.
The Facts on the Ground
The program, known as automated camera enforcement or ACE, has already grown significantly. It started with 623 buses on 14 routes but has since expanded to cover 2,000 buses across 70 routes. The technology requires cameras to capture a driver committing the same infraction over a five-minute period before a ticket is issued. MTA and DOT employees then review the footage to process the citations.
MTA spokesperson Eugene Resnick confirmed the shift in focus, stating, according to Streetsblog NYC, “We’ve tested this on the ACE system hardware and look forward to advancing a public pilot with DOT.” The goal is clear: clear the lanes so cyclists aren’t forced onto dangerous sidewalks. As one official noted regarding the push for better infrastructure, according to amNewYork, “As a growing number of New Yorkers are using two wheels as a primary mode of transportation, the need to expand bike routes is necessary.”
While the camera pilot targets enforcement, the city is also rolling out massive construction projects to physically separate cyclists from cars. In the Bronx, DOT is proposing a new two-mile network in Throggs Neck that would repurpose an estimated 70 parking spaces to connect residents to Ferry Point Park. Meanwhile, in Southern Brooklyn, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Tuesday that construction has begun on Bay Parkway and Cropsey Avenue to boost bus speeds for 85,000 daily riders.
Let’s be honest: the city has been dragging its feet on this for too long. Cyclists have been dodging opening car doors and speeding SUVs for years while the administration debated the logistics. The excuse that the MTA was “more focused on getting more cameras onto more buses” doesn’t cut it when lives are on the line. A bike lane that drivers can ignore isn’t a bike lane; it’s a suggestion.
However, the shift in tone from the Mamdani team is notable. They are finally pairing enforcement with actual infrastructure. In Southern Brooklyn, where buses were crawling at speeds as slow as 3 mph, the new design aims to fix that. Mayor Mamdani put it plainly in a statement, saying, according to amNewYork, “New Yorkers don’t have time to waste, and neither does our administration. We’re getting right to work building a public transit system that New Yorkers actually deserve.”
But there’s a catch. The system relies on human review. DOT employees have to watch the footage and approve the tickets. If they get overwhelmed by the volume of violations, the system could bottleneck just like the traffic it’s trying to fix. We need to see if the city has the manpower to handle the influx of citations without creating a backlog that renders the cameras useless.
On top of that, the push to remove parking spaces in places like Throggs Neck and Bay Parkway will inevitably face pushback from small business owners and residents who rely on street parking. The administration needs to balance the need for safety with the reality of local commerce. As DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn said, “Bus riders commuting between Midwood, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach deserve a fast and dignified commute, and we’re ready to help improve safety for everyone using the street.”
is that New Yorkers are tired of waiting for the city to get serious about safety. Whether it’s ticketing the guy double-parking his delivery van or building a protected lane so a kid can get to school without fear, the time for talk is over. The cameras are ready, the paint is wet, and the administration is finally showing up to work.
What’s Next for the City
The immediate next step is the launch of the public pilot program for the bike lane camera enforcement, which officials say is ready to start “advancing” now that testing is complete. Residents should expect to see the first wave of tickets for bike lane blockages shortly. There is no specific vote date listed for this pilot, but the DOT and MTA have committed to moving forward immediately.
For those watching the Brooklyn project, construction on Bay Parkway and Cropsey Avenue is already underway as of Tuesday. The city expects these changes to significantly reduce travel times for the B6 and B82 buses. If you’re a driver in those neighborhoods, watch your parking spots, because the city is taking back the streets.
This is opinion and commentary from the RapForMayor team.
