Next week, AI will start issuing parking tickets in Philadelphia
The agencies installed AI-camera systems on 152 buses and 38 trolleys to identify vehicles stopped or parked in bus lanes or in front of bus stops in Center City and West Philly. Violations will be ticketed starting May 7.
The goal is to discourage these habits, according to Matthew Zapson, planning programs manager at SEPTA
'We are really hopeful that this threat of consistent enforcement will change people's behavior,' Zapson told Technical.ly. 'We want the behavior to change so we can provide accessible, safe, reliable and quick transit.'
SEPTA and the PPA are working with Hayden AI, a San Francisco-based company that makes AI traffic enforcement technology, to install and maintain the camera systems.
The vision AI system is made up of a context camera, a license plate recognition camera, an antenna and an onboard processing unit, per Charles Territo, chief growth officer at Hayden AI. The cameras are mounted inside the windshield of the buses.
Hayden created a map of all the bus routes in Philly, then the map was annotated with the rules on each route, marking where bus lanes and stops are. Then the company creates algorithms that translate those rules and tell the system what to do if there are violations, Territo said.
'We'll say, OK, system, here's our map. This is a bus stop. It should be clear. There should be no vehicle here,' Territo said. 'If you see a vehicle here, capture an image of the license plate, if you don't see a vehicle there, don't do anything.'
When the cameras detect violations, footage and images are taken to create an 'evidence package' that is sent to Hayden AI, which does a first round of review of the content, Zapson said.
Then, the data is sent to the PPA, where a human reviews the materials again before determining if there was actually a violation and issuing a ticket. The PPA houses all of the data collected.
Hayden AI's system only takes photos or videos of vehicles if the algorithm finds that it is violating a regulation, Territo said. This reduces the amount of data that's collected.
This program is currently in a warning period, meaning people who are found to have violations will only receive a warning. After May 7, the PPA will start issuing tickets ranging from $50 to $76 depending on the type of parking violation.
Could changing driver behavior boost SEPTA revenue?
Across the nine cities where Hayden AI has deployed their system, 9 out of 10 drivers who receive a violation ticket did not receive a second one, per Territo, the chief growth officer.
'It's very effective at changing the behavior of drivers that may have routinely parked in bus lanes or at bus stops,' Territo said.'Now they know that that will be enforced.'
SEPTA and the PPA piloted the tech in 2023, placing AI camera systems on seven buses along routes 21 and 42.
The 70-day pilot saw over 36,000 parking violations at bus stops and lanes in Center City, according to Zapson, the SEPTA planning programs manager. The pilot also identified specific bus stops and locations in the city where there were consistent parking violations.
'[It] confirmed how big of an issue this was, that it was affecting people's ability to get on and off the bus at bus stops,' Zapson said. 'And it was causing real reliability and travel time problems for our riders as well.'
Preventing vehicles from stopping and parking in front of bus stops or in no-parking zones is an effort to lessen congestion, said PPA Executive Director Rich Lazer. It should also make it easier for people to get on and off the buses, especially people with disabilities, parents and seniors.
Parking enforcement officers can only address violations they're physically there to see, he said, so this technology broadens the scope of enforcement.
SEPTA, which is facing a massive budget shortfall that could lead to service cuts, will not directly earn revenue from the AI-ticketed violations — like other tickets, it goes to the PPA. However, Zapson said, the hope is it will make the bus and trolley systems more efficient, and eventually lead to additional ridership.
'When transit becomes more reliable, more accessible, a little bit quicker,' Zapson said. 'It's going to draw more people to take the bus or the trolley as an option.'
Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
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