DC drivers face $15 million in fines from bus lane cameras as citations soar

WASHINGTON - Drivers in D.C. have been racking up thousands of fines — caught by bus cameras —  over the last nine months.

Data from DDOT shows that 147,251 citations have been issued since November 15, 2023, when the Clear the Lanes Project began, totaling nearly $15 million.

DDOT and WMATA teamed up to encourage drivers to stay out of bus-only lanes and zones - whether it is driving, stopping, parking, or idling in them - to allow buses to move quicker and keep bus stops safer. 

A warning period ran from July 2023 to November 2023.

"Where do you want us to park?" said Aleya Wilder, a D.C. resident who said she's racked up at least seven tickets. "They're putting cameras everywhere and then expect us to pay that."

The buses are equipped with cameras that catch violators and video them automatically.

The citations are $100 each.

ATU Local 689, a bus drivers union, reached out to FOX 5 DC to discuss the concerns that bus operators have when cars are in designated bus lanes. They detailed that bus operators have to move around the cars illegally parked in bus lanes "morning, noon and night," – and moving around those parked cars have resulted in multiple incidents of buses being hit by another vehicle. They also said that cars often cut off buses, which can result in accidents. Not to mention – cars parked in the bus lanes result in delays for buses, and their riders. 

"ATU Local 689 prioritizes the safety of the riding public, our members, and believe the Clear Lane Program is needed to ensure their safety. We are cautiously optimistic based on the anecdotal results so far, and look forward to partnering with the DC government and WMATA to ensure the Clear Lane program's success," said the ATU Local 689 spokesperson in a statement to FOX 5 DC. 

Many of the drivers FOX 5 spoke with said they had been issued a bus-lane ticket recently.

"It's not right. I feel if you're handicapped or MetroAccess is dropping you off, the bus pulls up behind you. I don't think they should give you a ticket for that because it's a medical reason," said one woman named Pat. "It's just not fair, because the economy is going up, prices are going up, and some people can't afford it, and then it's not fair. It's another bill."

Kevin Palomares told us he just recently got a ticket for idling out front of a bus lane in his work vehicle while he went inside a downtown building for a few minutes.

"D.C. gotta work on that," he said.

"I think it's pretty ridiculous, personally, from all the bus-lane tickets to red light tickets to the cameras in the trees, it's hard to drive around D.C. these days and not get hit with hundreds of dollars a month, even when you're following the laws as closely as you can," added driver Paul Schwiesou.

We wanted to know how much of the nearly $15 million in citations have actually been paid - and what happens when out-of-state drivers don't pay them - the D.C. DMV said they are working on collecting the data for us.

A map of where the bus lanes and zones are located can be found at ddot.dc.gov/clearlanesprogram.

Below is a breakdown of tickets issued, and which state the driver is registered in:

State  Total Issued

MD     51,978

DC      41,703

VA      38,908

FL       2,380

PA      1,758

NJ      1,464

NY     1,450

NC     1,093

IN      1,040

TX      691

GA     608

OH    519

MA   409

CA    327

TN    295

AZ    288

DE    274

MI    236

CO   183

WV  176

OK   148

CT    147

OR   134

IL     123

KY   105

AL    93

WI    82

LA    77

MO  70

RI    61

MN 52

MS 51

ME 47

AR 43

NH 38

WA 36

MT 27

VT  23

NM19

KS  19

IA  16

NE 11

AK 10

HI  10

NV  9

ND 9

ID  7

US 2

PQ 2

Grand Total

147,251