School bus tickets will resume next week, nearly 3 months of tickets will be issued retroactively

PITTSBURGH — A controversial school bus ticketing program that was on hold will resume issuing citations next week in Pittsburgh. The cameras, which use AI to catch drivers passing stopped school buses, are installed on all Pittsburgh Public School buses. Tickets were on hold for nearly three months because of a change in state law, but now tickets will be issued again next week and some drivers may be surprised when a citation they didn’t know they got in late December, January, or February shows up in the mail.

“I pretty much tell people, ‘Can you believe this?’ And they’re like that doesn’t sound right, this just sounds crooked,” Keely Hancox tells 11 Investigates.

Hancox reached out to 11 Investigates after getting a $300 school bus ticket in the mail last year. She says it didn’t show a violation and she wanted us to look into the program.

“I was like yes, someone is looking into this because this just seems wrong,” Hancox said. “I was glad to see you’re following up with it and you still are.”

11 Investigates has learned that despite the school bus ticketing program being on hold since December 22, 2023, when a new state law went into effect, the company that installs and maintains the bus cameras, BusPatrol, has been recording on all PPS buses during that time.

Pittsburgh Public Schools now confirms starting next week, videos that Pittsburgh School Police deem a violation from Dec. 22, 2023, to the present, will be sent out as a $300 ticket.

“When am I going to get a ticket?” Hancox said. “Like I just got a ticket for something and it’s not even ready, the system isn’t even in place yet.”

PPS told us last week they wouldn’t issue any citations until PennDOT had a program in place for hearings to dispute tickets. The district wasn’t clear if tickets would be issued retroactively; but, 11 Investigates has yet to hear from PennDOT or see their plan for how and where to fight a ticket.

11 Investigates talked to legal analyst, Phil Dilucente to get his perspective.  He says when it comes to issuing citations retroactively, “There’s an argument to be made that there is a deprivation of people’s rights under the Due Process Clause of the Constitution.”

Anyone who gets one of these tickets has 30 days to request a hearing with a PennDOT hearing officer. That can be done in person at a PennDOT facility or virtually.  There is no cost to fight the ticket.

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