Illegal parkers in California risk more tickets and fines under new bill

AC Transit has ticketed nearly 600 people for parking in its bus lanes

Drivers who park illegally at bus stops or in transit only lanes could get ticketed more often if a proposal in the Legislature becomes law.

The bill from Assembly member Richard Bloom, D-Los Angeles, allows bus agencies to install automated cameras on the front of their coaches, which could capture the license plate of any car parked in bus stops or dedicated bus lanes.

The vehicle’s owner would get a ticket in the mail and, Bloom and the bill’s supporters hope, learn their lesson not to block the bus.

Those cameras are already in use on some Bay Area buses. AC Transit has issued 588 citations for $110 a pop to drivers who stopped in the bus-only lanes of the Tempo line, which began service from downtown Oakland to San Leandro along International Boulevard last summer, said agency spokesman Robert Lyles.

San Francisco’s Muni buses also have cameras, but state law allows only those two agencies to use the technology and limits their use to enforcement of the busonly lanes.

Bloom’s legislation, which is sponsored by the L.A. Metro transit system, would let any bus agency install cameras and expand where they can be used to include curbside stops. The bill, AB 917, was introduced last month and is now before the Assembly’s transportation committee.

Some drivers think there is little harm pulling into bus stops or lanes when they can’t find a legal space, but Bloom and others say those scofflaws slow down transit service for everyone else and make boarding more dangerous for riders. Blocking dedicated lanes forces drivers to pull out into the rest of traffic to get around the parked car, which can be a risky maneuver.

“Camera enforcement is cost-effective and ideal for busy streets where parking enforcement is not realistic,” Bloom said. “AB 917 will deter drivers from violating bus-only lane designations, ensure the reliability of public transit and help transit remain competitive in our efforts to reduce congestion.”

Along AC Transit’s Tempo line, if a bus operator sees someone blocking the lane he can activate cameras mounted just inside the coach’s windshield with the press of a button to snap a photo of the offender, rather than having to radio a control center and ask for law enforcement to come ticket the car. But the specialized Tempo buses are the only ones in the AC Transit fleet that have the technology.

Darrell Owens, a member of the East Bay Transit Riders Union, said he sees cars blocking busy bus stops “every day” while riding AC Transit in Berkeley. The violators, many of them dropping off or picking up passengers for ridehailing companies such as Uber and Lyft, slow down the bus boarding process and make it more difficult for riders who use wheelchairs, he said.

Stressing that he was speaking on his own behalf and not for the union, Owens said he supports Bloom’s proposal because it would seek to address that problem without a traditional law enforcement response. Owens has been among those pushing for Berkeley to shift responsibility for enforcing traffic laws from police to unarmed civilian workers in an effort to reduce interactions between law enforcement and the public.

“We want to minimize that as much as possible, and one of the ways to do that is to have cameras on the front of the bus,” Owens said. “No cop necessary.”