The first weeks of a program to test automated ticketing of vehicles parked in bike and bus lanes downtown generated thousands of warnings and violations, data obtained by the Tribune show. Between Nov. 6 and Dec. 13, the city issued some 3,577 warnings and tickets to parking scofflaws under the new Smart Streets pilot program. The vast majority were warnings, as only warnings could be issued during the first month of the program and even after that warnings are still issued for a first violation. But the city did issue 13 tickets in the first weeks of December, the data show, which would have been given for repeat violations. Though the program is too new to draw conclusions, the number of warnings and tickets shows that drivers blocking bike or bus lanes is a persistent issue, said Jim Merrell, managing director of advocacy for the Active Transportation Alliance. The blockages make cycling less safe and buses less efficient, he said. “It’s obviously a problem that needs to be addressed,” he said. The program allows the city to use cameras to mail tickets to registered vehicle owners for violations in an area that covers much of downtown, running from the lake to Ashland Avenue on the west, North Avenue to the north and Roosevelt Road to the south. It is planned to run for two years. It is set to ultimately include parking meter violations and an effort to prevent double parking in commercial loading zones, in addition to bike- and bus-lane violations. Parking meter and commercial loading zone violations are not yet being enforced as part of the program, though the city could begin meter enforcement early this year, Chicago Department of Transportation spokeswoman Erica Schroeder said in an email. The delayed program began more than a year-and-a-half after it was approved in March 2023 with cameras on eight city vehicles. Cameras are also expected to be installed on CTA buses, though they are not yet in use. Even so, the city issued at least 3,564 warnings in the first weeks of the program. Of the tickets issued, eight were for bus lane infractions and five were for bike lane violations, the data show. “CDOT believes that the program has been effective so far,” Schroeder said. “The numbers of warnings and violations clearly show that bike-and-bus-lane parking violations are an issue in the pilot area.” The data indicates certain locations were violation hot spots, such as an address near the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Dearborn Street. Schroeder said the city Transportation and Finance departments have for years been collecting information about vehicles blocking bike and bus lanes via the city’s 311 service, and enforcement vehicles are using that data to focus on locations where parking violations have been persistent issues. To Merrell, the program is a boost to bike safety efforts and attempts to speed up buses. It comes just in time, he said, as interest in cycling has grown and the city and the CTA have begun work to prioritize buses on city streets. “It’s another tool in our toolbox that we really need to be figuring out, both for safe streets and for transit,” he said. The safety repercussions of vehicles parked in bike lanes have drawn heightened attention in recent years. At the same time, biking has surged in popularity in Chicago, more than doubling between fall 2019 and spring 2023, according to estimates from the city and mobility data company Replica. In 2024, Chicago set a yearly record for rides on the Divvy bike system and shared e-scooters, hitting more than 10 million trips, the Department of Transportation said. And the number of bike lanes across the city is growing, too, though bike projects are often surrounded by community tension. The Transportation Department has added nearly 100 miles of bike lanes since 2023, the agency said recently. But the city’s use of automated ticketing for other types of enforcement, such as speed and red-light cameras, has long been controversial, with city officials pitching the programs as safety measures but critics painting them as a cash grab or arguing they do little to boost safety. Several earlier investigations found the city’s ticketing practices hit low-income violators hardest and were disproportionately owed by drivers of color, including a 2022 ProPublica investigation. Fines under the new Smart Streets program vary by type of violation but, for example, the fine for stopping or parking in a bus lane is $90, and in a bike lane is $250. An expired meter in the central business district costs a vehicle owner $70, and parking in a commercial loading zone is $140. Low-income drivers will remain eligible for reduced-price tickets and other debt relief. City officials have said the goal of the bike- and bus-lane program is not to generate revenue. “The goal isn’t revenue” 40th Ward Ald. Andre Vasquez said when the program kicked off in November. “The goal is to not have any revenue collected because no one’s blocking the bike lane.” Merrell said a successful test run of the program would involve a drop-off in the number of warnings and especially tickets for repeat infractions. That would show drivers’ changing their behavior and the tickets acting as a deterrent. “No one wants to see automated enforcement be a way to fill a revenue hole,” he said. “It’s really a form of accountability for safe streets and keeping our transit moving.”