An MBTA bus drives through new bus-only lanes in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Photo courtesy of the MBTA

The MBTA is finally ready to kick off its long-awaited baby steps into protecting its own bus lanes and bus stops from double-parkers and queue-jumpers.

Bus-mounted cameras will automatically issue warnings to drivers blocking a bus as it tries to use a bus lane or enter a bus stop starting on Oct. 1. Warnings will turn to fines starting Jan. 1, 2027. The cameras will capture photos of violators’ cars without any action by the bus driver.

“Riders deserve safe, accessible, and efficient bus rides,” MBTA General Manager Phil Eng said in a statement Thursday. “When bus stops are blocked, people with disabilities, people with strollers, and anyone who has mobility challenges loses the option for level boarding. When bus lanes and stops are blocked, thousands of riders are impacted and lose time out of their schedules every day. This program is about keeping buses moving, but also about keeping people safe and giving everyone valuable time back in their day.”

While peer agencies like New York City’s MTA have had cameras on buses that automatically ticket drives in bus lanes for years, now, the T needed approval from the Legislature to set up a system amid concerns from civil liberties groups. A January 2025 state law checked that box, but it took the T until this week to sort out the policies and infrastructure on its buses. Some municipalities, like Somerville, have also trialed sidewalk-mounted bus stop-enforcement cameras thanks to the same state law.

Bus lanes and stops are sometimes used as de facto loading zones by delivery drivers and ride-hailing apps, or by drivers looking to cut in front of others. The net effect, the T said, is to gum up its buses, which provide service to many dense areas not covered by transit and which also feed commuters to its subway system. The T is also trying to expand areas of high-quality transit service by putting some of its busiest routes in dedicated lanes, as in Everett, Roxbury and Mattapan.

The MBTA’s system will fine vehicle owners, identified using the Registry of Motor Vehicle’s license plate database, between $25 and $125, the agency said, but not before a team of human reviewers will check the photos and confirm whether a violation occurred, and owners will be able to dispute the tickets. Vehicles registered in another state or country will be mailed a warning or ticket within 21 business days, as with HOV lane violations. A first-time bus lane violation will receive a warning, the T said, unless the violation created a public safety risk.

Drivers using a bus lane to make a turn, where hashed road markings or a sign show it’s legal, won’t be fined but must give an approaching bus the right of way, the T said. The same goes for drivers who must cross a bus lane to enter or exit a parking space, or who enter a bus lane to make way for emergency vehicles. Those same emergency vehicles are allowed to use the T’s bus lanes to respond to calls faster.

Enforcement will start on the SL4 and SL5 bus routes between South Station and Roxbury’s Nubian Square, and expand across the T’s bus network after that.