Starting September 1, Santa Monica will see a new layer of enforcement on its streets: automated eyes will be beaming down on those who dare to stop unlawfully in bus lanes and bus stops. As part of the newly launched Automated Bus Lane and Bus Stop Enforcement (ABLE) program, the local Department of Transportation is joining forces with the city's Police Department to actively penalize poor parking choices that disrupt public transit.
The initiative equips the Big Blue Bus fleet with two front-facing cameras, including one for license plate recognition, to automatically to capture and penalize the offending vehicles. If you're caught in the act, expect a $293 citation coming your way. This proactive step comes on the heels of a 60-day warming-up period that issued warnings instead of fines, beginning July 1, 2025. According to the Santa Monica Government website, during this trial phase, ABLE snagged 352 vehicles in bus lanes and a whopping 777 at bus stops.
Anuj Gupta, the Department of Transportation Director, was quoted on the government site expressing little surprise at the number of detected violations, stating, "The number of violations detected by ABLE during the warning period is eye-catching, yet not surprising," and emphasizing the need for such enforcement to maintain community safety and reliability, as stated by the City of Santa Monic. The official figures from the warning period stress the importance of keeping transit routes clear for the thousands of Big Blue Bus users each day.
For more information on the program or if you have thoughts of trying to slip by unnoticed, you might want to connect with Robert McCall, the Community Engagement Administrator, for the facts on ABLE.
