By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The city's Department of Transportation is taking no prisoners when it comes to clearing bus-only lanes for the East Side's Select Bus Service – handing out more than 15,200 tickets to violators since mid-October, according to the New York Daily News.
The Select Bus Service (SBS), which began on Oct. 10, was designed to speed up travel along the East Side through a variety of innovative measures, including the introduction of dedicated bus lanes so that the SBS buses could avoid car traffic.
But the project, which cost the city $60 million to implement, has also lightened the pockets of thousands of motorists, who were slapped with fines ranging between $115 and $150 for driving or stopping in the bus-only lanes, the News said.
The restricted lanes, which became camera-enforced on Nov. 22, have resulted in tickets for more than 15,200 drivers in the less than four months since the rules went into effect, according to the News. The paper also reported that 156 cars were towed between late November and mid-December to make way for the Select Buses.
While the new system may mean bad news for motorists, it has meant good news for East Side bus riders, according to MTA.
The SBS has already knocked 13 minutes off the time it takes to travel from South Ferry to 126th Street during morning rush hour and 12 minutes off the time it takes to travel downtown during that time, a spokesman for the Authority confirmed.
