Surveillance cameras that Chicago motorists love to hate will soon be spewing out another avalanche of tickets that arrive by mail — this time targeting drivers who block bus lanes, bike lanes, crosswalks and loading zones.
Nearly 20 years after a CTA experiment with bus surveillance cameras failed miserably, the City Council agreed to try it again — and then some.
A whole new batch of ticket-generating cameras will be mounted on CTA buses and other public transit vehicles, as well as on city vehicles, light poles and other property pinpointed by City Hall.
Motorists caught impeding traffic flow by blocking bus lanes, bike lanes, crosswalks and loading zones will automatically be fined for those offenses — after one warning. Citations will hit mailboxes no sooner than 30 days after the system is installed.
Spearheaded by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and downtown 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins and 42nd Ward Ald. Brendan Reilly, the crackdown was approved by the Council Wednesday without a word of debate.
It calls for creating a pair of two-year pilot programs, which will operate until June of 2025, in zones that stretch from Lake Michigan to Ashland Avenue and North Avenue to Roosevelt Road.
The first would authorize the city to ticket registered vehicle owners by mail for parking in bike lanes, bus lanes, crosswalks and bus stops. The other would use “license plate-reading camera technology” to more efficiently ticket drivers or companies who double-park or park too long in commercial loading zones.
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First Ward Ald. Daniel La Spata has acknowledged some consider the pilot area too small, while others will call it “another revenue grab” by the city.
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“I would love for this to generate no money for the city. Please, please, let us turn around two years from now and say, ‘We didn’t gain a dime from this because residents and businesses did exactly what they should — which is simply not parking in bike and bus lanes,” La Spata said.
What Transportation Experts Say
Transportation Commissioner Gia Biagi has called the ordinance an “important step” toward providing speedier, more reliable and efficient CTA bus service and making downtown streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists.
“It’ll discourage drivers from illegally parking in places that put our most vulnerable users at risk: folks on bikes, folks walking, folks in wheelchairs. These are the points of vulnerability. So we‘re doing everything we can to make it safe,” Biagi has said.
Christina Whitehouse, founder of the advocacy group Bike Lane Uprising, has said the cycling community welcomes any crackdown that prevents motorists from “illegally blocking and driving in bike lanes.”
But Whitehouse has contended illegal construction sites should also be part of the crackdown, and commercial vehicles should be fined more than private citizens.
“We’ve seen an all-time record high of people being killed biking,” Whitehouse said. “And it’s so bad that we don’t even talk about critical injuries anymore.”
The city of London pioneered the idea of using exterior bus cameras to nail motorists blocking bus lanes and at bus stops.
How and Where You Might Get a Ticket
Ticket-generating cameras will be soon be mounted on CTA buses and other public transit vehicles, as well as on city vehicles, light poles and other property pinpointed by City Hall.
Motorists caught impeding traffic flow by blocking bus lanes, bike lanes, crosswalks and loading zones will automatically be fined for those offenses — after one warning.
Citations will hit mailboxes no sooner than 30 days after the system is installed.
When Does it Begin?
The city has not set a start date, as it is in the process of finding camera vendors and locations.
However, the new initiative comes with pair of two-year pilot programs, in zones that stretch from Lake Michigan to Ashland Avenue and North Avenue to Roosevelt Road.
The programs are expected to operate until June of 2025.
The first program would authorize the city to ticket registered vehicle owners by mail for parking in bike lanes, bus lanes, crosswalks and bus stops.
The other would use “license plate-reading camera technology” to more efficiently ticket drivers or companies who double-park or park too long in commercial loading zones.
