Metro wants to start handing out parking tickets to drivers who park illegally in front of bus stops.
“I observe all over the region that in bus zones, it says no parking, but it’s just ignored,” Metro General Manager John Catoe said Thursday. “And in the District, giving out parking tickets in bus zones is not a priority.”
The illegal parkers force buses to stop in the middle of traffic, clogging traffic and posing a safety risk to pedestrians and riders, Catoe said.
In Santa Monica — part of Catoe’s jurisdiction when he was deputy chief of Los Angeles’ transit system — parking in a bus zone earned drivers fines of $271 to $321, he said.
“You get one of those tickets and you start changing your driving habits,” he said.
Although Metro currently issues tickets in its parking lots, it has never handed out tickets on the street.
Bus supervisors or other Metro staff, not transit police, likely would hand out the tickets, Catoe said.
“I don’t want to tie up a law enforcement officer, who could be on a platform or on a bus preventing issues,” he said.
Metro’s compact gives the agency authority to operate on Metro property and within a 150-foot perimeter of bus stops.
Catoe said the ticket program could extend to bus-only lanes, which also are often ignored by drivers.
Both of the ticket programs require the approval of Metro’s board of directors, and the bus-only lane program likely also would require the approval of the local jurisdictions.
The revenue from fines issued on the transit system currently goes to the jurisdiction where the offenses take place.
Catoe said he did not know whether Metro would be able to keep the revenue earned from the parking tickets.
