A new Metro plan will install cameras and license plate readers on D.C. buses to ticket drivers who park in bus lanes or block bus stops. 

Officials are expected to detail a new strategy, called Clear Lanes, Tuesday aimed at speeding up bus service in the District of Columbia. Due to an explosion in ride-sharing and delivery cars in the city, more cars are clogging bus lanes and blocking bus stops. 

The new plan will add two cameras to the windshield of Metrobuses. One of the cameras will take pictures of the license plates of cars in bus lanes while the other will record video. The images and video will then be sent to the D.C. Department of Transportation for review and ticketing. 

Transit workers have no say in whether a ticket is issued and will have no access to the cameras to avoid tampering. 

According to officials, the cameras will be added to 140 buses. While the program is expensive, costing the city and Metro collectively more than $7 million, supporters are confident it will bring in fees. A trial run of the system on the X2 route in September generated upward of 60 violations a day. A fine for parking in a bus lane is $200.

Metro leaders say they hope to expand the camera system to 600 buses over 10 years. Transit officials are also in talks to implement a similar enforcement strategy in Maryland and Virginia.   

Officials believe the strategy will significantly improve the punctuality of at least 31 routes in the city. Metro hopes to increase the average speed of buses from its current 9.8 mph to 12 mph. 

Metro’s board of directors will review the Clear Lanes strategy Friday for a plan to begin implementing the cameras in the fall.

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.