More major cities across the United States have been hopping on the automated ticket issuing system bandwagon that uses cameras mounted to city buses to photograph, identify, and ticket vehicles that block bike and bus lanes. The city of Los Angeles recently spent $11 million on 100 AI bus cameras, and New York City recently started using cameras mounted on city buses to ticket vehicles obstructing bus lanes. As of Monday November 4, owners of vehicles that are caught obstructing bike or bus lanes in the city of Chicago will now receive a warning citation. Those warning citations are expected to continue through December 4, after which only one warning will be issued before tickets are issued.
Chicago is calling the program Smart Streets, and it currently utilizes cameras on eight city vehicles, none of which are buses. Chicago’s Department of Transportation is working to procure more cameras and hopes to install them on city buses in the spring according to officials. The city initially intended to use static cameras mounted to poles, but decided that mobile cameras will allow prioritization of hotspots and address issues as they come up. According to the Chicago Tribune,
The test run of the program allows the city to use the cameras to mail violations to registered vehicle owners for violations such as parking in bike lanes, bus lanes, crosswalks, bus stops and no-parking zones, and includes an effort to prevent double parking in commercial loading zones. It will run for two years from the date the first ticket and fine is issued, and covers much of the downtown area from the lake to Ashland Avenue on the west, North Avenue to the north and Roosevelt Road to the south.
The program will also soon include issuing tickets for parking meter violations, the mayor’s office said.
Public attention on the effects of vehicles parked in bike lanes surged after a 2022 incident where a 3-year-old was struck and killed by a semi truck when she was forced to maneuver around a vehicle blocking the bike lane in Uptown. The Smart Streets program was initially intended to begin by the summer of 2024, but delays in camera procurement have set back the timeline. City officials say the goal of the program is not to generate revenue, but rather to prevent vehicles from blocking bike lanes and bus zones. The transit agency has not yet announced the bus routes that will be receiving cameras, so next time you’re thinking of double parking in downtown Chicago, you might end up getting a ticket in the mail.