Culver Beats Santa Monica, CityBus Launching Automated Bus Lane Enforcement

After a succesful pilot program in 2023, Santa Monica began working on a permanent program for cracking down on illegal car parking in bus lanes. The Big Blue Bus has been telling advocates the program will “hopefully” launch next month. L.A. Metro began ticketing with its automated enforcement program for Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles last month. – DN

Culver CityBus is about to start to using on-bus cameras to ticket drivers who block bus lanes or bus stops. If you drive in Culver City, don’t block a bus lane or bus stop, or you risk receiving a $293 citation.

Culver CityBus’ automated bus lane and bus stop enforcement “ABLE” program is similar to Metro and L.A. City’s “BLE” program, which started issuing warnings in late 2024. Metro is already issuing citations on Wilshire Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, and recently expanded the program to Grand Avenue and Olive Street. Culver City ABLE will issue parking tickets at bus stops throughout the city and on the bus lanes along Culver and Washington Boulevards.

(Culver CityBus’ press release notes that ABLE will also ticket drivers parked in bike lanes – though apparently only “along the MOVE corridor mobility lanes” – where the city removed protected bike lanes, replacing them with shared bus-bike lanes.)

State law mandates a 60-day warning period which Culver CityBus will begin this Thursday, March 20. Actual $293 parking citations will start on May 19. The Culver City Transportation Department plans to use ABLE data to to identify violation “hot spots” that will inform focused Culver City Police Department enforcement efforts.

Find additional information at the Culver CityBus ABLE program webpage.

Image: Culver CityBus – photo by Jonathan Riley via Wikipedia

About The Author

Joe Linton

Joe Linton is editor of Los Angeles Streetsblog. He is also a longtime urban environmental activist. His main areas of interest have been restoring the Los Angeles River and fostering bicycling for everyday transportation. He’s worked for many Los Angeles livability non-profits, including Friends of the L.A. River, Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, C.I.C.L.E., Livable Places, and CicLAvia. He also served as deputy to Los Angeles City Councilmember Ed Reyes.

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