The MTA is picking drivers’ pockets again.
City motorists could soon be getting soaked with tickets as high as $250, as the MTA’s bus‑lane camera crackdown expands to three more routes starting Friday.
The MTA’s Automated Camera Enforcement program, known as ACE, slaps tickets on drivers that drive on busways, double‑park along bus routes or block bus stops.
Bus‑mounted cameras automatically capture images of violators, then sends the footage to the city Department of Finance, which cranks out summonses starting at $50 and ticking up by $50 per offense, capping at $250.
“It is not fair. They are just taking a lot of money out of our pockets,” John Piedra, 42, raged to The Post while pumping gas Thursday. “It’s just getting a little obvious at this point that they are kind of stealing. Where is the money going?”
“It is not fair,” he added. “They are just taking a lot of money out of our pockets. It’s just getting a little obvious at this point that they are kind of stealing. Where is the money going?”
Ray Malia is also steamed over the bus cam tickets. The 39-year-old dishwasher technician drives a commercial vehicle when he services restaurants and sometimes parks in the bus lane to carry in equipment.
“It’s not like I want to, but there is no place to park,” Malia said, adding that the snow that’s piled up in parking lanes this winter has made the problem worse.
“You gotta park in the bus lane or by the fire hydrant because of the snow,” Malia said. “They should think about that, but I know they will not,” he said shaking his head.
Ahmad has been driving a cab in New York City for 40 years and is worried about losing income to the MTA.
“It makes me frustrated because, honestly, it does affect your income,” the 63-year-old told The Post Thursday.
“They are gonna end up keeping people hustling. Most of the people work very hard and they don’t want to end up in a line in the public assistance office.”
The next routes getting the ACE treatment are the B68 in Brooklyn along the Church Avenue/Coney Island Avenue corridor, M57 in Manhattan that runs crosstown along 57th Street and B60 in Brooklyn that runs along the Rockaway Parkway/Wilson Avenue stretch.
Amara Ouattaro, 49, a yellow cab driver for five years, said his bus lane tickets are already up to $250 a pop. He claimed he has to drop off passengers in the bus lane sometimes.
“I was dropping a passenger off. The passenger wanted to go to Port Authority,” Ouattaro said. “I had to stop in the bus lane. I have to pay $250!”
“We have no choice but to pay it. What are we going to do?” Ouattaro added.
Previously a ticket written by a cop for a vehicle standing in a bus lane cost $115 regardless of the number of offenses.
“If you get five fines, what’s gonna happen to your income? It’s gonna be minus. Instead of putting food for your kids, you have to put food to the city,” Ahmad said.
Each route will be plastered with signs announcing camera enforcement, according to the MTA.
More than 1,600 buses in New York City now have cameras quietly riding shotgun, covering 54 bus routes and 560 miles of roads in all five boroughs.
The MTA said bus routes with automated enforcement see average bus speed gains of about 5%, with some corridors hitting 30% faster trips.
The bus cams catch 115 drivers who block bus lanes for each one driver ticketed by the NYPD, according to Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy group that pushes the use of public transportation over cars.
ACE revenues jumped from about $22.5 million in 2024 to roughly $108 million in 2025, as more cameras rolled out citywide, according to MTA financial documents.
In 2024, the board approved a $141.5 million package with two vendors — Hayden AI and Seon — to buy, install, operate and maintain up to 2,023 bus‑mounted cameras through August 2026.
The agency hasn’t published a clean line‑item tally for annual operating costs — staff, data processing and back‑office work are buried inside broader MTA budget lines.
Drivers’ pocketbooks were already getting walloped by the congestion toll the MTA launched last January, charging drivers $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours.
From that toll the transit agency raked in $562 million last year — $62 million more than expected.
Yet the base $9 fee launched in January 2025 is still scheduled to climb to $15 by 2031 under the current tolling framework.
“When there is no cars left, then it’s gonna be something else,” Piedra said. “It’s not gonna stop. It’s always gonna be something.”
