SF Muni bus.

How do you stop car drivers from blocking bus lanes? Put cameras on buses, of course.

Unfortunately, transit lanes are often clogged by car drivers who either don’t know or don’t care that cars are not allowed in them. Enforcement is difficult, because violation is often so rampant that it’s not practical for the police to pull over every violating car.

DC’s 7th Street bus lane through Chinatown is a prime example.

But there is a solution. San Francisco is installing cameras on all its city buses, specifically to enforce the prohibition on cars in transit lanes. Human officers will review footage from the cameras and mail tickets to the owners of any cars illegally blocking the lane.

Bus cameras in San Francisco will not be used to ticket other types of moving violations such as speeding or running red lights. For now they won’t even be used to ticket car drivers that block bus stops. Current law prohibits any use other than ticketing transit lane violations.

Even that limited application will make a big difference, though. San Francisco has 17 miles of transit lanes, but without enforcement they’re no better at actually moving buses through traffic than 7th Street in DC.

If this idea works it could have a huge effect on bus planning nationwide. Bus lanes could become much more effective, and therefore likely to become more widespread.

 Cross-posted at Greater Greater Washington.