Controversy has fallen on the Miami-Dade County Public Schools Bus Safety Program. An article from the Miami Herald shared how the program has been illegally giving out tickets to drivers who are not breaking the law. The article detailed how the cameras run by a private company, BusPatrol USA, have been giving out erroneous tickets to hundreds of motorists across Miami-Dade County.
The program began in May 2024 and is a partnership between MDCPS, the Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office and a private company called BusPatrol USA. BusPatrol is a company that uses Artificial Intelligence to help its cameras detect when a car is engaging in a traffic violation around a school bus. Actions like passing a school bus illegally when its arm is out would, in theory, be caught by the cameras, and drivers would face hefty fines of $200.
Notably, BusPatrol installed $10 million worth of cameras for free. In exchange, BusPatrol would receive 70% of the revenue from tickets for the first two years, and then 60% for the following years.
BusPatrol is a private company majority-owned by a private equity firm called Oaktree Capital Management. BusPatrol is a for-profit company, so it is incentivized to give out as many tickets as possible.
As detailed by the Miami Herald, hundreds of motorists were given expensive traffic violations for not breaking the law. Incidents include a car driving on a major avenue, the bus stopped on a completely separate side street and the car getting a citation.
Furthermore, over 1,000 people have tried to challenge these tickets in court, but they have not been given court dates. Motorists who challenge these citations have little to no recourse since each party involved, from the Sheriff’s Office to BusPatrol to MDCPS, is saying it is the other party’s responsibility.
The ineffectiveness of BusPatrol’s technology is not limited just to Miami. In Massachusetts, not a single citation was given out because laws in the state disallow the cameras from being used as evidence. In Alleghany County, Pa., 90% of BusPatrol-related cases were thrown out due to inconsistencies with the data.
The new bus safety program is one that, in concept, makes sense. However, in execution, there have been a variety of problems with the technology itself as well as those in charge of making the program a success.
