Bus lane bandits, beware.

Baltimore is expanding its traffic camera program to police city bus lanes, and a ticket could be headed for your mailbox.

On Wednesday, the city’s spending board approved an $8.9 million contract for American Traffic Solutions to install and manage the cameras over the next five years.

City Department of Transportation officials said the cameras will be deployed to five locations, picked according to a bus lane study conducted in 2024. They include:

• Baltimore Street from Hanover Street to Charles Street
• Lombard Street from Calvert Street to Light Street
• Pratt Street from Commerce Street to Gay Street
• North Avenue from Homewood Avenue to Oakhill Avenue
• North Avenue from Druid Hill Avenue to Woodbrook Avenue

Transportation Director Veronica P. McBeth said the locations were selected because of repeated bad behavior observed there, such as drivers pulling in front of buses, following buses too closely or double-parking in bus lanes.

The cameras will be positioned at intersections, but also midblock, based on crash and congestion patterns and the frequency of illegal activity, said Kathy Dominick, a spokesperson for the department. The cameras will cite people driving in bus lanes, but they’ll be calibrated to bypass drivers who make legal right turns from bus lanes, according to bid documents submitted by American Traffic Solutions.

City officials have yet to decide when the cameras will become active, but a grace period will be offered before tickets are issued, Dominick said. Transportation staffers plan to update signs and markings on monitored bus lanes ahead of the cameras’ activation, she said.

Councilman James Torrence, whose district includes one of the North Avenue stretches to be monitored, said the cameras’ installation is long overdue. Torrence said there are often crashes at that site, which is south of Druid Hill Park, and even more near misses as young people and seniors cross the street.

The bus lanes on North Avenue have improved commute times, Torrence said, but the lack of enforcement has caused tension between drivers and bus operators.

“I think they will work,” Torrence said of the cameras. “But it took a while. This is something our partners at the state have been asking for.”

The installation of the bus lane cameras was made possible by legislation championed by Baltimore Del. Robbyn Lewis. The Maryland General Assembly approved the measure in 2024.

Baltimore has periodically expanded its traffic camera program, which captures speeders and red light runners, but the cameras have also faced some pushback. Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer has been critical of the program’s cost relative to the revenue it produces.

Just this week, during a hearing of the City Council’s Budget & Appropriations Committee, city budget officials said the red light and speed cameras, which are separate from speed cameras on Interstate 83, will cost the city $16 million in the current fiscal year to operate, but are expected to raise just $10 million in revenue.

“Yikes,” Schleifer said. “So as of right now we’re losing $6 million to charge our residents $10 million?”

McBeth, the transportation director, said the purpose of the cameras isn’t to generate revenue. They’re an investment in making city roads safer, she said.

“The endgame is safety,” she said. “Fewer crashes, fewer speed incidents, the safety of children in school zones.”

For I-83, the city found that traffic slowed after the cameras were installed.

Paul Sturm, a downtown resident who manages the Better Transit Now campaign, said he was “delighted” by the approval of the camera contract. Sturm said he often sees drivers using downtown bus lanes as a loading zone. That defeats the purpose of the lanes, he said, which is to make buses a more reliable mode of transportation.

Sturm, who is advocating for funding in Annapolis this week, said his group focuses most of its attention on securing money for transit at the state level. The Maryland Transit Administration operates Baltimore’s bus system. But the bus lane cameras are an example of action the city can take to make the lanes more effective, he said.

“This will clearly help bus riders get where they need to be and will create a safer environment for buses, automobiles and pedestrians as we all navigate the streets,” he said.