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Mobile bus lane cameras
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MOTORISTS parking or driving in bus lanes could find themselves caught by new mobile cameras - in a move Sheffield Council claims could raise up to £264,000 a year in fines.
The Star can reveal plans are being drawn up to deploy mobile cameras and to free up more foot patrols to catch motorists flouting the restrictions.
The cameras will cost £124,000 to introduce but it is estimated each would catch up to 20 offenders a day - resulting in £160,000 income from fines for the council
And because that would free up more wardens to patrol the streets, more motorists would be caught, generating a further £24,000 in fines.
A report to the council’s cabinet highways committee also suggests installing a portable camera for bus gates, which would generate around £80,000 in fines from drivers ignoring restrictions, bringing the total potential income to £264,000 a year.
The highways committee is being asked to approve the proposals to reduce traffic congestion from illegal parking, and to make public transport speedier with proper operation of bus lanes and gates.
Kevan Butt, council parking services manager, said: “Enforcement of parking contraventions using mobile cameras will enhance the effectiveness of enforcement in specific areas. More effective enforcement will improve safety around schools, make bus stops more accessible and reduce traffic congestion.
“Re-locatable enforcement cameras at existing bus and tram gates and bus lanes will enable more sites to be enforced at lower cost. More effective enforcement will contribute to improving public transport reliability.”
Mr Butt said wardens on foot patrol find it difficult to tackle motorists flouting waiting restrictions around schools and bus stops, no waiting and loading restrictions on main routes, and unauthorised ranking of taxis.
He said it will cost £124,000 to introduce mobile parking enforcement, because of changes to IT systems, road markings, erecting warning signs and fitting the CCTV to vehicles.
Mr Butt said vehicles fitted with CCTV would need only one warden rather than the two at present, meaning extra wardens to go on foot patrol.
He said they could raise an extra £24,000 in fines from catching at least three more offenders each day.
The cost of the new equipment and signs to cover parking restrictions would be borrowed and repaid over two years - leaving a ‘net income of £110,300 to the parking services budget’ over the next two years.
Meanwhile, Mr Butt said the cost of buying a portable camera to use at bus gates would be £30,000, plus additional costs to ensure suitable markings and signs present at each site, and a £2,500 bill every time the camera was moved.
But he said about 15 fines a day could be issued, raising about £80,000 a year - with proceeds paying for expansion of enforcement to more locations.
Coupled with the extra cash from parking fines, the total income would be £264,000, against initial set-up costs of £154,000 for both types of enforcement.
However, Mr Butt predicted the total raised could fall in future years as motorists become more aware of the cameras and obey the rules.
Last September, figures revealed by The Star showed the council made more than £1 million over 19 months in fines from bus gate and bus lane enforcement at just six locations.
The proposals were welcomed by Sheffield’s biggest bus company, First.
A spokesman said: “We are fully supportive of the initiative, which we hope will improve reliability of services.”
However, there was divided opinion among members of the city’s Motorists’ Forum.
Mac Millard, a retired postman from Longley, said: “More people would respect restrictions in the first place if they were in fair places. At present, there are bus gates such as the one in Bridge Street, where no services run.”
But Rob Prior, a company director from Broomhill, said: “I don’t have a problem with the proposals. Whether the locations are correct is a different debate but I have no argument against enforcement.”
Sheffield Council’s cabinet highways committee is to consider the proposals for mobile parking and bus lane enforcement at a meeting on Thursday, January 12.
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SHEFFIELD Council’s plans to bring in mobile cameras to enforce parking restrictions and bus lanes were met with a mixed reaction today.
Bus and tram passenger Robert Greaves, who is registered disabled and lives in Walkley, said: “The plans don’t go far enough.
“There should be even more enforcement with police and ambassadors given the power to hand out fines as well as council wardens but some of the money should be spent improving public transport, such as helping fund a cheap ticket that people can use on all buses and trams.”
Retired plumber John Oldfield, of Sothall, said: “Anything like this always involves money.
“Because the Government does not give them enough, the council is finding it from ordinary people. I agree with fining drivers in bus lanes if they get in the way of a bus, but if they are empty why shouldn’t ordinary vehicles be able to use them to cut congestion?”
Alan Burdett, a gas engineer from Gleadless, said: “If the proposals are self-financing, that’s fine. The rules are there and should be enforced. I’d also like to see more of a crackdown on abuse of blue disabled badges.”
His wife Pat, who is retired, said: “I suppose it is a bit of a money-making scheme, but as long as there are signs, so motorists have warning, I think the proposals are fair.”
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Comments
There are 21 comments to this article
Page 1 of 2
ak47khan
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 10:53 PMwhen a council starts making money out of things like this it means the country is finding it hard to make money and it will go bankrupt we need to create jobs scrap minimum wage and start bulidings factories again and start producing if we keep buying stuff from china and india they will get richer and richer and we will keep getting poorer and poorer
Los Blancos Galactico Rossoneri Mancunian
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 08:53 PMJust another money making scheme! Some bus lanes and bus gates shouldn't be operated if there are less than 5 bus services or no bus using them! Also restrictions against motorists for just 1 bus service is not worth it! Two examples are services 10 & X17 where there are left and right turns just for the buses which aren't frequent! Council will always be anti-car!
ghost rider
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 08:31 PMIf it wasnt that i work in sheffield i wouldnt go near it.I live out in a rural area so dont have much choice but to drive to work.Decided to go shopping in sheffield over christmas and was shocked at how much it cost me to park, £3.85 for 5 hours as you cant pay for 3 or 4 hours.Went to huddersfield the next day and it was £2.50 for 5 hours right in the centre of town not a 15 minute walk away.Keep going scc in trying to stop drivers going into the city and youll manage to close every shop in the city centre.I will stick to huddersfield and rotherham now.
Charlie Farleigh
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 07:11 PM@12... What you refer is called wisdom - something you clearly lack! BTW... there's only 1 'g' in bigot.
Brett
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 07:00 PMGerimo. Well said. Use the Bus Lanes when you should. Others generally look at me gone out when I use the Bus Lanes. All those who don't adhere to the times the Bus Lanes can be used should also be FINED (BWAHAHAHAHA!! The bus lanes are good for the environment (supposedly) . Good in theory but not practical for most to catch a bus. Wessex spanner monkey. Read the previous about the Bus Lanes (lol). I also walk to work. ;-)
handel
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 06:15 PMYet another reason to avoid Sheffield City Centre, I will do more of my shopping on-line if the authorities make it more difficult to get into town! PS Shopping on-line is cheaper!
serendipity
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 06:03 PMThere is something unpleasant and mean-spirited about the way the Council are gleefully rubbing their hands together at the thought of finding new ways to trap and fine people. Perhaps they should be thinking of ways to stop wasting our taxes, then they wouldn't need to keep persecuting motorists.
Gerimo
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 05:31 PMIt's about time they started fining people who won't go in bus lanes when they are not in use,after 9.30 & before 4.30 on most of them.
Wessex spanner monkey
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 04:26 PMPost #10 Brett, 'rules of the road' are created so that we can all navigate the roads in relative safety, confident that we're all going to be doing the same thing. Bus gates and lanes are not 'rules of the road', they're simply politically inspired dogma by left wing commissars who still cling to the notion that we all have to be 'equal' (equally poor that is). Buses are and always will be the very last transport option I choose. From where I live I frequently walk the 2 miles into town and usually match or beat the bus. Pity some of the bus passengers didn't do the same, it'd be a healthier nation.
Reason
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 03:29 PMIt has nothing what so ever to do with safety....it is all about revenue raising. Me personally, I would rather sit in the comfort of my own car than sit on some of the buses that travel our streets. I will just leave earlier to get where I want without having to bother with so called public transport !!. Oh and it wouldn't be the same to read a story in this forum without our resident racist biggot at #3 who always manages to get something in about ethnic communities....new year, new start? - not for him, he is still living in the 30's when his facist views were all the rage in Nazi Germany.
Observer2
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 02:29 PMGood. It is high time that SCC used modern means to combat those who consider themselves above the law. There is an option for for all those who are fined, don't break the rules.
Brett
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 01:56 PMabh. Its called rules of the road. Without rules it would be a nightmare road. It will not affect you if stick to them!
abh
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 01:41 PMthey wont to spend money on looking after there tenants instead of trying to make money out of motorist.why do we pay car tax to be told what parts of the road we can or can not drive on..
Wessex spanner monkey
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 11:31 AMSheffield - rated one of the worst places in Britain to try and get around by car, but SCCs master plan isn't quite complete yet (to completely wipe out private motorists) so they'll turn the screw a little harder to get a few more yelps out of the car driving public. Not be long now until the entire city centre is one big bus lane, although it won't really matter because the last shops will soon pack it in and give up. And what a surprise, the spokesman from Worst Bus supports a crackdown on motorists. Well of course, contravention of bus gate and lane restrictions is just such a major issue for the country at the moment! Well done SCC, this sort of progressive forward thinking is just what we need to bring business and prosperity back to the masses. What's that smell? Oh, it's Sheffield burning while the Emperor plays his fiddle.
Zap
Thursday, January 5, 2012 at 11:31 AMNice easy targets are motorists - just when they are digging up all the roads (highways pfi) they introduce these extra traps - perhaps the council have decided the time for car traffic is now past and they will tax it off the streets of the city. Well what is happening is the decline of the city centre will be accelerated and out of town will boom in trade. Well done SCC a great idea.
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