AB 1287 Turns SF City Buses Into Legal Traffic Officers
By Paulo Acoba
If you’re a Bay Area resident who commutes in the City (San Francisco) you might want to obey the law and not drive in lanes designated for buses and taxis. According to a report by KRON 4 news they dropped earlier today (June. 2, 2015) if assembly member David Chiu’s controversial AB 1287 bill passes the Senate floor it would, according to the bill, ” …authorize San Francisco to install forward-facing cameras to record parking violations and exclusive or preferential transit-only lane and intersection obstruction violations (traffic violations.”) That means that MUNI bus you see roaming around would technically become an authorized traffic officer. If you’re caught driving or parked in a designated bus lane, expect to receive a ticket in the mail courtesy of the SFMTA .
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In the video above, busses were only allowed to ticket parking violators, but since the bill was introduced and amended, the right for buses to issue moving violations was added on. San Francisco already has 23 miles of dedicated lane space for busses and taxi drivers. Since the pilot program was initiated according to SFBay.CA,
"“The transit agency said since the implementation of the camera enforcement, the 38-Geary limited route saw a 3 percent daily and 7 percent afternoon reduction in delays in the westbound direction of Geary Street. The 2-Clement and 3-Jackson saw a double-digit reduction delays of 15 percent daily and 20 percent in the late afternoon in the westbound direction of Sutter Street.”"
Advocates of the Bill include SF Mayor Ed Lee who wrote a statement in support of Chiu’s bill while absent from the official press conference. Mayor Ed Lee stated,
"San Francisco continues to experience unprecedented growth, and as a result, has an increased demand on our streets. AB 1287 will reauthorize our City’s transit-only lane enforcement to help make Muni, taxis, shuttles, bikes, and cars move around the City more smoothly and predictably, and can make the streets safer for everyone, particularly pedestrians."
Most people commenting online or who have found themselves indirectly involved in the bill (anyone who uses the city bus system) are in full support of the bill and there seem to be no real dissenters. For those who used the lane to make a U-turn or avoid an accident, the likelihood of a ticket being issued would be slim. Ironically the only dissenter at this time comes from Kron 4’s own Stanley Robert’s who was quoted to say, …”the city and SFMTA would have to be added to the list of people having badly.” According to Kron 4, he wonders who will take pictures of all the MUNI buses blocking the box ( a.k.a. vehicles getting stuck in an intersection after the light turns red, backing up traffic.) Or in short, “Quis Custodiet Ipsos Muni Buses ? ” or “Who Will Watch The Muni Buses?”