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New York MTA says its AI bus-lane cameras wrongly ticketed drivers parked in legal spots and voided about 3,800 mistaken violations

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) uses cameras powered by artificial intelligence, mounted on bus windshields, to catch vehicles blocking bus lanes; the system analyses images to decide whether it sees a vehicle stopped where it should not be, and the city's Department of Transportation (DOT) says a person reviews every machine-generated violation before a ticket is issued. In November 2024 NBC New York reported that, during the 2024 expansion to new routes, the cameras on the M79 and Bx35 routes had mistakenly ticketed about 3,800 vehicles. According to the MTA, more than 870 of those violations went to cars, trucks and SUVs parked in legal alternate-side spots, because the cameras had not been programmed to skip those zones; most of the rest were issued during what should have been a warning period. One driver told NBC New York and NPR that tickets for parking he knew to be legal kept arriving, about a dozen in all and three in one day, costing hundreds of dollars; he said he tried to fight them in court, which was not working well, and received apology letters only after his story was broadcast. A second driver's summons carried a photo showing him in a legal alternate-side spot. The MTA said all the mistaken violations were reversed, payments were being refunded and the software was corrected. An unnamed source told NBC the cameras were made by Hayden AI; the MTA blamed about 800 of the tickets on a Hayden AI programming error, and a Hayden AI officer told NPR the problems had nothing to do with the AI or the technology and were a configuration issue. DOT declined to say how its human reviewers missed the erroneous violations.

AI system
Hayden AI bus-lane cameras (reported)
Hayden AI
Occurred
2024
Reported
26 November 2024
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Made a claim about the person · Informed a human decision about the person
Reported harm
Financial LossOther Material Harm
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Public services
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources
10 claims: 10 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 2 people

AI system as recorded: Bus-mounted AI camera system used by the MTA for bus-lane enforcement on New York City buses, identified by a source cited by NBC New York as made by Hayden AI; its violations pass to New York City DOT reviewers before tickets are issued

Reported harm

Drivers parked legally received machine-generated bus-lane violations. One driver says about a dozen arrived, costing hundreds of dollars, and that he tried to fight them in court, which was not working well, before apology letters came after his story was broadcast; the MTA says it voided about 3,800 mistaken violations and is refunding payments.

Outcome

Resolved

The MTA said all 3,800 mistaken violations were reversed or voided, that payments on them were being refunded, and that the software misconfiguration was corrected; Hayden AI said the programming errors were fixed. DOT declined to say how its human reviewers missed the erroneous violations. No regulatory or legal action over the errors is reported.

What remains unknown

  • The dates on which the mistaken violations were issued; the reports give only the 2024 route expansion and coverage in November 2024.
  • How the DOT's human reviewers passed the violations for legally parked vehicles; DOT declined to say.
  • Whether the fault lay in the camera system's zone mapping as configured by Hayden AI or in data supplied by the agencies; the MTA and Hayden AI describe it differently.
  • How many people, as opposed to vehicles, received mistaken violations, and how much was paid before refunds.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. NBC New York describes the enforcement cameras as powered by artificial intelligence, and Hayden AI's demonstration to NPR shows the system analysing images to decide whether a vehicle is stopped where it should not be. The MTA says these cameras generated violations for more than 870 vehicles parked in legal alternate-side spots on the M79 route because they had not been programmed to skip those zones, so the system's own violation output was wrong. DOT says a person reviews each machine-generated violation; those reviews passed the erroneous violations to drivers. Hayden AI says the fault was a configuration issue, not the AI.

10 claims: 10 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The MTA's bus-lane enforcement uses cameras powered by artificial intelligence mounted on bus windshields; the system analyses images to decide whether it is looking at a vehicle and whether that vehicle is stopped where it should not be, and New York City DOT says a person reviews every machine-generated violation.

Causal attribution. NBC's description and DOT's statement; Hayden AI's own demonstration to NPR.

  • nbcnewyork.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    It was a network of cameras powered by artificial intelligence, mounted on the windshields of MTA public buses.; The DOT says a human being is tasked with reviewing every one of those machine-generated infractions
  • npr.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The system analyzes those images to decide if it's looking at a vehicle, Territo says — and whether that vehicle is stopped somewhere it shouldn't be.; There's supposed to be an additional level of human review, where someone from the NYC Department of Transportation looks at each video of an alleged violation before deciding whether to issue a ticket.
Reported The MTA said AI cameras on the M79 and Bx35 routes mistakenly ticketed about 3,800 vehicles for blocking bus lanes, and that more than 870 of those violations were for vehicles parked in legal spots.

Causal attribution. MTA figures as reported by NBC New York.

  • nbcnewyork.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    In all, the MTA said A.I. cameras on the M79 and Bx35 routes mistakenly ticketed about 3,800 vehicles for blocking bus lanes. More than 870 of the faulty infractions were for cars, trucks and SUVs that were parked in perfectly legal spots.
Reported According to the MTA, the cameras had not been programmed to know they should not issue violations to vehicles parked in the legal alternate-side zones that interrupt the M79 lane, and both routes were still in a warning phase; an MTA spokesman described programming problems in the mapping of curb areas and the timing of warnings, since resolved.

Causal attribution. The MTA's explanation to NBC New York.

  • nbcnewyork.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    According to the MTA, the smart cameras had not been programed to know they shouldn’t issue violations to vehicles parked in the legal alternate side zones that periodically interrupt the M79 lane. The cameras also failed to realize that both the M79 and Bx35 bus routes were still in the “warning” phase of a new enforcement pattern – which means even legitimate infractions should not have resulted in monetary penalties.; there were programming kinks, both in mapping of curb areas and the timing of warnings themselves — all of which have now been resolved.
Reported The MTA told NPR that about 800 tickets were mistakenly issued because of a programming error by Hayden AI and about 3,000 during what should have been a 60-day warning period.

Causal attribution. MTA statement to NPR; its figures differ slightly from those given to NBC.

  • npr.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The MTA says about 800 tickets were mistakenly issued because of a "programming error" by Hayden AI. In addition, the MTA says about 3,000 tickets were accidentally issued during what should have been a 60-day warning period for the bus lane enforcement zones.
Reported One driver says tickets for parking he knew to be legal kept arriving, about a dozen and three in one day, costing hundreds of dollars; he says he tried to fight them in court, which was not working well, and received apology letters after a local TV station broadcast his story.

Causal attribution. The driver's own account; NPR re-interviewed the same driver, so both sources carry one witness.

  • nbcnewyork.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    At first I wasn’t worried, because I know the parking rules and these are legal spots,” he said. “It turns out that the tickets kept coming though. We are up to about ten now.
  • npr.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
    I think we're up to about a dozen or so. There were definitely over 10,"; costing hundreds of dollars in total.; including three in a single day — and kept coming.; At first, he tried to fight them in court. But that wasn't working very well.; local TV station WNBC picked up the story.; a flurry of letters apologizing for the tickets.
Reported A second driver received a machine-generated summons although the photo printed on it shows him parked in a legal alternate-side zone; he says he was not parked in the bus lane.

Causal attribution. The driver's account and NBC's description of the summons photo.

  • nbcnewyork.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    a machine-generated summons – even though photo evidence printed on the summons shows he was parked squarely in a legal alternate side parking zone.; I was not parked in the bus lane. I always triple or double check every time I park.
Reported DOT declined to say how its human reviewers missed the erroneous violations for legally parked vehicles.

Causal attribution. DOT's non-answer to both outlets.

  • nbcnewyork.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The DOT also declined to say how human reviewers missed the hundreds of erroneous bus lane violations issued along the M79 and Bx35 routes.
  • npr.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The DOT declined to comment on why those human reviewers did not catch hundreds of erroneous tickets for cars that were legally parked.
Reported The MTA said the mistaken violations have been reversed or voided, payments are being refunded and the software misconfiguration has been corrected.

Causal attribution. MTA statements to NBC New York and NPR (one party).

  • nbcnewyork.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    The MTA said all of the 3,800 mistaken violations have been reversed and any payments made prior to voiding the violations are being refunded. The transit agency also said the software misconfiguration that resulted in errant violations has been corrected.
  • npr.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
    All violations issued in error during what was intended to be a warning period have been or are being voided. Any payments made on improperly issued tickets are being refunded.
Reported An unnamed source identified Hayden AI as the company behind the cameras; a Hayden AI officer told NPR the problems in New York had nothing to do with the AI or the technology and were a configuration issue, and the company says the errors have been fixed.

Causal attribution. Vendor identification attributed to NBC's unnamed source; the denial is the company's own statement.

  • nbcnewyork.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    A source with knowledge of the matter identified the company behind the onboard bus cameras as Hayden AI
  • npr.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Hayden AI says those programming errors have been fixed. "Anytime there's a large program, there are going to be bumps along the road," said Hayden's Charley Territo. The problems in New York "had nothing to do with the AI or the technology. It was really a configuration issue.
Reported The same driver told NPR that the stakes were lower than in medicine and that it all worked out in the end, while calling for accountability for such programmes.

Causal attribution. The driver's own qualification, kept as context.

  • npr.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Maybe you could argue, yes, the stakes are lower. These are some parking tickets. It all worked out in the end. But, you know, our city is spending all this money. There should be some level of accountability for these programs.

Sources

2 sources inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English on 2026-10-31; no translation. Applies to s1, s2.

Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: Unknown.

The tickets were for parking along the M79 and Bx35 bus routes in New York City, issued by the city's bus-lane camera programme.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-31: Published as a city transit agency's AI camera system generating bus-lane violations for vehicles parked in legal spots, which human review passed to drivers; the MTA acknowledged and voided the mistaken violations. The drivers' accounts are attributed, and Hayden AI's position that the fault was configuration rather than AI is recorded.

People described

Drivers parked in legal alternate-side spots along the M79 and Bx35 bus routes in New York City who received bus-lane violations; two of them described their tickets to reporters

People reported harmed in this case

At least 2 people

0 AI participants · 2 other people harmed

Additional affected people are described without a reliable count.

Two drivers describe their own mistaken tickets (one to both NBC New York and NPR, one to NBC). The MTA's figures (about 3,800 mistaken violations, more than 870 of them for vehicles in legal spots) count vehicles, not people, so the other affected drivers are unquantified.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#mta#bus-lane-cameras#automated-enforcement#parking-violations#public-services#new-york-city

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). New York MTA says its AI bus-lane cameras wrongly ticketed drivers parked in legal spots and voided about 3,800 mistaken violations. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2024-new-york-city-mta-ai-bus-lane-cameras-ticketed-legally-parked-drivers-violations-voided

BibTeX

@misc{2024_new_york_city_mta_ai_bus_lane_cameras_ticketed_legally_parked_drivers_violations_voided,
  title = {New York MTA says its AI bus-lane cameras wrongly ticketed drivers parked in legal spots and voided about 3,800 mistaken violations},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2024-new-york-city-mta-ai-bus-lane-cameras-ticketed-legally-parked-drivers-violations-voided}
}

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