City of Boston Plans to Install Cameras to Deter Illegal Driving Near Stopped Buses

The City of Boston is making plans to install camera-based enforcement systems on its school buses that would issue fines against drivers who threaten kids while they’re getting on and off the bus.

On Monday, City Hall and the Boston Public Schools released a “request for proposals” seeking vendors who could provide and maintain “an AI-enabled stop-arm camera school bus safety program.”

After selecting a vendor, the city plans to trial the new system with a three-month test phase. That phase would install cameras on 25 buses, and those cameras would only issue warning letters instead of fines.

Following that three-month trial, the city would plan “a progressive expansion across additional fleet buses, and a transition to active violation enforcement,” according to the city’s bidding documents.

“Drivers who ignore safety laws and put our kids at risk must be held accountable,” said Mayor Michelle Wu in a city press release issued Thursday. “The new legislation allowing cities to use camera enforcement on school buses is a good first step, and we will continue to advocate for tools to reduce unsafe behavior.”

“My first in-community meeting after I was inaugurated was on Washington Street in Roslindale with local parents watching vehicles drive past school buses with the stop arm out,” recalled City Councilor Enrique Pepen. “It’s about time we put in camera enforcement on the school buses to stop these acts of negligence.”

In January 2025, Governor Maura Healey signed “An Act concerning the safety of school children embarking and disembarking school buses,” a bill that authorized cities and towns to use cameras to identify vehicles that illegally pass stopped school buses.

Under that law, drivers caught on camera passing a stopped school bus would receive the same fines that are already established under current Massachusetts law: $250 for a first offense, $500 for a second offense, and $1,000 for a third offense.

At least two other cities in Massachusetts are already using school bus cameras to fine drivers who put kids at risk. Chicopee was the first school system to take advantage of the new law, starting in late February, and Quincy launched its own program in June.

Bus cameras have strict civil rights guardrails

While license-plate reading mass surveillance networks like Flock and Axon remain unregulated in state law, and have accumulated a dismal track record of ethical failures, sexual predation, and constitutional violations, the state’s school bus camera law sets limits on how footage can be used.

The law specifies that police can’t use footage from school bus camera systems for purposes other than enforcing the school bus passing laws, except with a court order.

The law also requires all footage that’s not related to a violation to be destroyed within 30 days, and footage that is related to a suspected violation must be destroyed within 1 year of the case’s disposition.