L.A. Plans to Add Bus Lane/Stop Enforcement Cameras on DASH Buses

The city of Los Angels is planning to install DASH bus cameras that automatically issue citations to drivers who block bus-only lanes and bus stops. If you drive, never park blocking a bus lane or a bus stop, you could get an automatic $293 ticket.

Many Streetsblog readers are aware that automated camera bus lane enforcement is already up and running in a handful of L.A. County cities. If you’re completely unfamiliar with the program, start with this short explainer video.

In L.A. City, cameras mounted on Metro buses currently issue tickets on Wilshire Boulevard, La Brea Avenue, 6th Street, Grand Avenue, Olive Street, and others. The Basin reported that, during fiscal year 2025-26, bus-mounted cameras accounted for 146,000 tickets totaling $42.8 million. This dollar amount is roughly a quarter of the total parking ticket fines issued by the city. In calendar year 2025 (ticketing started in February 2025, with additional streets coming online mid-year), program revenue totaled $20 million. After paying program expenses, revenue is split between Metro and the underlying city.

According to a recent LADOT memo [part of council file 21-1224], in addition to generating revenue, the city’s ABLE (automated bus lane enforcement) program increased bus speeds, improved bus reliability (on-time performance), and changed driver behavior. It resulted in fewer drivers parking in bus zones, as evidenced by a 33 percent drop in citations after one year.

Building on the Metro bus camera success, LADOT now plans to add cameras to its own buses. LADOT operates the smaller DASH shuttle buses (photo at top).

LADOT worked with Metro’s camera contractor, Hayden AI, to conduct a 60-day pilot on two downtown DASH bus routes. LADOT reports that the brief pilot collected data for over 3,400 potential violations, averaging roughly four apparent violations per hour. The pilot found many “vehicles parked illegally at bus stops restricting buses from pulling safely to the curb… [so] some bus drivers had to unload passengers from a travel lane or at an angle to the curb… result[ing] in slower boardings and alightings, safety risks, and traffic delays.”

Tentatively starting this November, the city plans to install cameras on 20 downtown buses and 10 Pico Union buses. A later phase will include 20 additional DASH buses serving Crenshaw, Panorama City/Van Nuys, Watts, and Wilshire Center/Koreatown.

The final approvals for the program are still making their way through City Council approvals. Last week the City Council Transportation Committee approved the program. It will next go to the Budget and Finance Committee, then to a full council vote.

Before the program issues actual tickets, state law requires the city to do community outreach, and to issue warning tickets for the first 60 days.

Note that this (mobile) on-bus camera program is different from the city’s (stationary) speed camera program [SBLA coverage, LADOT program website]. Both are anticipated to begin issuing warning tickets around the end of 2026.

(Full disclosure: Metro and LADOT’s bus lane camera contractor Hayden AI is an advertiser with Streetsblog. Hayden AI was not consulted on this post. Any and all opinions herein are that of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Hayden AI.)