The grace period over as the Philadelphia Parking Authority plans to soon start ticketing drivers caught by artificial intelligence parking in SEPTA bus lanes.
Get out of the bus lane or be prepared to pay up -- even if a Philadelphia Parking Authority worker doesn't witness it.
Starting on May 1, 2025, cameras using artificial intelligence will begin ticketing drivers stopped in bus lanes, the Philadelphia Parking Authority confirmed to NBC10.
NBC10 newsgathering-partner KYW Newsradio first reported earlier this week on the date that AI-powered ticketing.
SEPTA is installing AI cameras on about 150 buses and more than 20 trolleys, PPA Executive Director Rich Lazer told KYW Newsradio.
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The plan is fire up the cams in mid-April to capture images of cars blocking bus lanes and parked at bus stops, the PPA confirmed to NBC10. PPA staff will review the images before sending out notices.
After a two-week warning period, tickets will be issued, the PPA said.
“If a car is parking in an actual bus lane that’s stopping and hindering traffic, that’ll be a $101 ticket,” Lazer said. “Double-parking in Center City is a $76 ticket.”
The hope is that the tickets will make drivers think twice about blocking bus lanes and stops in effort to improve safety and ease traffic congestion.
Illegal parking in SEPTA bus lanes costs the mass transit company money, slows traffic and causes safety concerns for riders, officials have said.
"I think the threat of consistent enforcement goes a long way," said Matthew Zapson, a SEPTA product manager earlier this year.
AI-powered cam monitoring of bus lanes is believed to help safety and to ease congestion
Former Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney signed the law allowing SEPTA to use the Hayden AI parking enforcement systems to ticket drivers for "parking, stopping and standing violations that interfere with mass transit," back in November 2023.
“I’m proud to sign this bill into law. It is another innovative step forward to keep Philadelphians safe and traffic moving smoothly," Kenney said at the time. "Thanks to these cameras, we are increasing efficiency in our streets to make our city even more accessible. I want to thank everyone who made this bill possible."
Prior to the bill being signed, a pilot of the camera-enforced program took place over the course of about 70 days. During that time, cameras caught more than 36,000 vehicles illegally parked on bus lanes for the route 21 and 42 buses.
Officials said they hope this effort will help improve traffic congestion and pedestrian safety issues. In announcing the pilot program, SEPTA officials said illegal parking creates safety concerns as anyone waiting for the bus -- or those who want to get off the bus -- where a vehicle is illegally parked would need to cross traffic as the bus would need to double park to accommodate the car in the bus lane.
Also, by making buses travel around illegally parked vehicles, drivers who park in bus lanes impact the efficiency of mass transit, slowing buses on their way to their destination and causing traffic as the buses need to weave in and out of bus lanes.
In this way, officials said, illegal parking in bus lanes cause riders to spend an additional 30 hours a year in traffic.
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