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In 2019, New Yorkers bought more than 500 million bus tickets. That’s an average of nearly two million every day. With so many people using the city’s bus transit system each day, the local government decided a few laws needed to be passed and regulated certain lanes to be for set aside specifically for buses. Enter the bus lane!
What Is a Bus Lane?
A bus lane is a lane set aside to be used by buses and nobody else. The only vehicles aside from buses that are authorized to travel in a bus lane are emergency vehicles. These lanes are marked by signs and other markings to distinguish them from ordinary lanes, almost always having “BUS ONLY” painted on the asphalt.
NYC Bus Lane Laws
New York City is under the jurisdiction of the greater state of New York, which means that the laws spelled out in the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law (VTL) govern the roads in the city. Section 412(m) of the VTL deals with bus lanes and sets out the rules regarding when you can drive in bus lanes.
“When signs are erected giving notice of bus lane restrictions, no person shall drive a vehicle other than a bus within a designated bus lane during the restricted hours,” (VTL §412(m)).
Although this might seem like a hard and fast “no cars allowed” policy, it’s not. The law includes five notable exceptions:
- When you’re making the next safe right turn.
- When you’re pulling up to the curb.
- When you’re dropping off or picking up passengers.
- When something is blocking the other lanes.
- When commanded to drive in the lane by a police officer or other authority.
No matter which of the five above exceptions apply to you, you cannot drive a non-bus in a bus lane for more than 200 feet. In some places, you will see signs that say otherwise. In those cases, read the signs and adhere to those directions.
An exception to each of these rules exists for emergency vehicles. Emergency vehicles are authorized to travel in bus lanes for any distance and for any reason so long as they do so in the active fulfillment of their legal duties.
Penalties for Driving in a Bus Lane
The penalties for driving in a bus lane can be steep. Fines, surcharges, insurance increases, points, and more fees are only some of the possible consequences of getting a bus lane ticket in New York City.
The fine for New York City bus lane tickets can be as high as $150. This fine is in addition to any fees, surcharges, and/or other penalties that the courts may impose. Such additional surcharges total $88. That brings the cost of a bus ticket up to $238. This $88 is imposed following a conviction, which can make it seem as though it comes out of nowhere.
Speaking of a conviction, get booked for one of these tickets and you’ll also be facing up to two points on your driver license. These will be active for up to 18 months and visible to insurers for up to four years.
Get enough points on your license and you could end up being forced to pay the Driver Responsibility Assessment (DRA) fee. The DRA fee applies to any driver who gets six or more points on their license at any one time. This only includes active points, which are points earned within the last 18 months.
At six points, the DRA fee costs $300 split over three years. Each point after that costs an additional $75 over three years.
If that weren’t bad enough, you may also be facing increased car insurance premiums as a result of your new traffic conviction. These increased premiums last for up to four years.
Put all of this together and you get a ticket that could cost you well over $1,000.
Types of NYC Bus Lane Tickets
There are multiple ways to get a bus lane ticket in New York City. Three of the most common methods of getting a ticket are driving in a bus lane, parking in a bus lane, and parking at a bus stop. These three violations all seem similar, but not all of them have the same penalties.
A Moving Violation for Illegally Driving in a Bus Lane
A ticket for driving in a bus lane is a traffic ticket. More specifically, it is a traffic ticket for a moving violation. Moving violations are violations that occur while your vehicle is in motion or otherwise actively being operated. Moving violations generally have more severe penalties than non-moving violations like parking tickets.
This is what people are referring to when they say, “Bus lane ticket.” The tickets for driving in a bus lane are the tickets that can impose points and insurance increases. These are the most severe of these three kinds of bus lane tickets in New York City.
A Parking Violation for Illegally Parking in a Bus Lane
To recap what we said above, non-moving violations are less severe than moving violations. The most common kind of non-moving violation is the dreaded parking ticket. As of June 2021, according to government data, there were more than 65 million open parking and camera ticket cases—and that number is only growing.
A Parking Violation for Illegally Parking in a Bus Stop
Whether parking or standing in a bus stop, you’ll get the same kind of parking ticket. These tickets cost just as much as those for parking or standing in a bus lane but have a slightly different violation description. Aside from that, there’s very little difference between parking in a bus stop and parking in a bus lane.
NYC Bus Lane Ticket Statistics
Each year, New York City rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars in fines from parking tickets alone.
Part of the reason for that is that most people don’t fight their tickets. Don’t fall for the trap of paying parking tickets just to “get it over with.” Oftentimes, parking tickets can be ruled invalid in a court of law.
The expert eyes of trained traffic lawyers know exactly what to look for and can spot the important information that makes the difference between a conviction and a dismissal. Examples include incorrect information on the ticket, poorly visible signage, dangerous circumstances, and more.
If you’ve gotten a bus lane ticket, don’t pay before you’ve consulted an expert traffic lawyer. Download the WinIt app today, talk to your choice of countless lawyers, and get started on the path to beating your ticket.
How Many Bus Lane Tickets Are Issued Each Year?
Note: All of the following data is from June of 2021.
There are currently more than 1.2 million bus lane camera violations in the system. These are camera tickets, which are different from traffic tickets, which—among other things—means that they won’t add points to your license. However, what can add points to your license are the roughly 5,000 tickets from 2019 for improper use of a bus lane in NYC.
Parking tickets for illegally parking or standing in a bus lane aren’t nearly as common as school zone camera tickets, for example, but still account for more than 178,000 of the currently open parking tickets
Parking tickets for illegally parking or standing in a bus stop are much, much more common than their bus lane counterparts. Of the currently open parking and camera ticket cases, over 1.5 million are for this violation.
Do Bus Lane Tickets Affect Insurance?
Yes, bus lane tickets can affect your car insurance costs, but only for the traffic ticket versions of bus lane tickets. Bus lane and bus stop parking tickets cannot affect your insurance, as they’re not traffic tickets. Rather, they’re parking tickets. Parking tickets, camera tickets, and non-moving violations usually will not increase your insurance premiums. There are a few exceptions.
There isn’t much data on exactly how much a bus lane moving violation tends to increase insurance costs, but there’s plenty of data on similar violations. For example, if you are convicted of driving in the wrong lane (which usually means oncoming traffic), you can expect your insurance to increase by 22.5%, according to Zebra.
When Can Cars Drive in a Bus Lane?
There are five exceptions for when a non-emergency vehicle can drive in a bus lane. Emergency vehicles are always allowed to drive in bus lanes when in the active fulfillment of their legal duties. Unless you’re driving a firetruck toward a raging inferno, you best stick to the non-bus lanes.
Here are the five exceptions for when you may drive a non-bus in a bus lane:
- When you’re making the next safe right turn.
- When you’re pulling up to the curb.
- When you’re dropping off or picking up passengers.
- When something is blocking the other lanes.
- When commanded to drive in the lane by a police officer or other authority.
FAQs about Bus Lanes in NYC
Well, that about covers it! That’s all the information that you need to know, but maybe it’s not all the information you want to know. If that’s the case, check out these frequently asked questions and see if somebody else has asked your question in the comments section below.
If you’ve gotten a bus lane traffic, parking, or camera ticket and are looking for legal help, don’t wait. Act now and download the WinIt app to get started working with an expert traffic lawyer who can help you fight your ticket. Take your case to court and win it with WinIt!
How Long Do I Have to Dispute a Bus Lane Ticket?
In New York, you have 30 days from the date the ticket was issued to request a hearing. Oftentimes, an appearance date will already be listed in the bottom left section of the ticket. Examine the boxes for “date” and “time” to see when the date and time of your hearing will be.
But just because the ticket lists a hearing date doesn’t mean that one has been successfully scheduled. To be better safe than sorry, it is a good idea to contact the court and ensure that a hearing date for your ticket is scheduled, on the books, and ready to go.
Is There Ever a Time I Can Park in a Bus Lane?
You’ll notice in the law we cited above, the text says, “during the restricted hours.” That refers to the hours of operation of the buses. While these buses are active, it is illegal to park in their lane. However, outside of the restricted hours, it is legal to park in a bus lane.
Can I Drop off or Pick up Goods in a NYC Bus Lane?
No. It is illegal to drop off or pick up goods in a bus lane during the restricted hours. That being said, there are sometimes small windows of time when dropping off and picking up goods is allowed. The difficulty there is that not all bus lanes have the same restricted hours, making it a challenge to determine when you’re allowed to do so.
If you need to drop off or pick up goods near a bus lane, consider going to a side street or opposite curb instead. You could also consider scheduling delivery for a time when the bus lanes are no longer restricted.
