A high-profile effort to speed up buses with automated enforcement of double parking has fallen flat on some routes, a Gothamist review of data shows.
On at least nine routes where MTA buses are equipped with ticket-issuing cameras, speeds dropped by 2% or more, according to bus speed data analyzed by Gothamist. While the exact cause is unclear, MTA data also shows a marked increase in unreadable plates on cars blocking bus routes citywide.
Those routes include the Bx20 in the Bronx, where average speeds have fallen from 7.1 to 6.6 mph since cameras arrived in September 2025. That’s the sharpest drop among all buses with cameras. The MTA attributed the decline to construction on the Broadway Bridge that has slowed all traffic in the area.
MTA data shows that bus speeds have mostly improved on the 67 total routes where automated enforcement of double parking has been implemented, with bus speeds increasing citywide by 5%.
Still, at least one possible reason for the uneven effect of the automated crackdown was in plain sight during a recent visit to several bus routes in the Bronx: Illegally parked drivers were obscuring their plates or popping their trunks to hide their plates from the cameras.
Gothamist spotted dozens of cars obstructing bus stops and bus lanes with their trunks popped open or with towels or other items draped over license plates on Grand Concourse, Southern Boulevard and elsewhere in the Bronx on Thursday.
Rider Kyla Francis, 21, was waiting for the Bx20 on Thursday. She said scofflaw drivers often slow her bus.
“Double parking is very bad. It's often, very often,” she said. “I'd rather a cab before I take the bus. That's my ideal way. But if I have to take the bus, then it's fine.”
Drivers on Southern Boulevard double parking or pulling into bus stops along the Bx36 route, where bus speeds stayed the same after cameras were added, tossed towels over their plates as casually as one would fold in their mirrors.
Obstructed plates were everywhere during a recent visit to the Bronx.
The MTA’s enforcement cameras first went into wider use in 2024. The MTA now outpaces the NYPD in issuing double parking tickets. Bus-mounted cameras issued around 404,000 tickets to double parked drivers compared to 387,000 issued by NYPD officers and traffic agents in 2025.
MTA leaders credit the ticketing for the citywide improvement of bus speeds, which now average 8.3 mph.
The share of MTA images of vehicles marked as "unreadable" climbed steadily from about 7% of events in 2024, to 11% in 2025, to 17% in the first three months of 2026 according to MTA data. "Unreadable" can mean the license plate was obstructed, or may indicate other problems including a dirty camera lens or bad weather, according to the MTA.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has made faster buses a signature promise of his administration. He has announced plans to speed up buses by 20% on 50 priority corridors, in part by expanding the bus-mounted cameras to 25 more routes a year through 2027. The mayor also said the NYPD will deploy traffic enforcement agents to crack down on drivers blocking bus lanes.
The city and MTA issue warnings on routes for 60 days before ticketing drivers who block bus stops, bus lanes or double park along bus routes. Fines start at $50 and increase by $50 each time the cameras catch the car, maxing out at $250 per violation.
The fines are only issued after two buses capture the same infraction more than five minutes apart.
MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan said the agency is committed to reducing “recurring obstruction patterns” and that the cameras reduce collisions and blocked bus stops. Officials with the agency said that there are many factors that might slow bus speeds beyond presence of camera enforcement, such as the Broadway Bridge construction project.
The MTA also said that it fights covered plates and fake plates through a task force with the NYPD and other law enforcement, and that officers have pulled more than 70,000 untraceable vehicles off the road since 2024. MTA officials noted the NYPD has enforcement authority for cars parked with obstructed plates on city streets.
An NYPD spokesperson said the department issued 213,932 summonses for obstructed plates in 2025.
