New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration publicly vowed earlier this year to wipe out tickets received by motorists at hundreds of decommissioned bus stops—but instead drivers are being asked to settle the fines for lesser amounts, even though the violations aren’t valid.

Earlier this summer, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority shuttered 570 bus stops because of service cuts, creating a massive ticket trap for motorists. Despite signs clearly saying, “Attention: This location is no longer a bus stop,” the city ticketed motorists who parked at the discontinued stops.

In response to an inquiry from The Wall Street Journal, the Finance Department promised all tickets at the decommissioned stops would be dismissed. Motorists needed to contest the ticket, but didn’t need to provide any further evidence, the department’s spokesman said.

But the promise has been illusory for some angry motorists.

Bill Herman, an assistant professor at Hunter College, said he and his wife, Christina Collins, received two tickets in early July at a discontinued stop at 64 Prospect Park West. They pleaded not guilty and sent the Finance Department a copy of the Journal’s article about the city’s promise to dismiss the tickets “with relevant portions underlined.”

Instead of dismissals, Mr. Herman said the couple received letters in August from the Finance Department offering a settlement, reducing the amount of the fine from $115 to $90. The couple then sent a complaint to the Finance Department but received nary a response.

On Friday, hours after the Journal inquired about the case, the couple’s tickets were dismissed.

Mr. Herman said it’s “shameful of them not to fix it on the first request.”

Owen Stone, a spokesman for the Finance Department, said the city is committed to keeping its promise to dismiss the bus-stop tickets.

“It’s an automated process to give people a chance of paying a lesser fine,” he said. “If you don’t want to take the settlement offer, you don’t have to do anything, and a judge will adjudicate your ticket.”

A faded sticker at a bus stop for the defunct QM22, an express bus that ran from Jackson Heights into midtown that was among the casualties of the MTA’s recent budget cuts.
Mr. Herman called Mr. Stone’s explanation disconcerting because “it specifically contradicts” the city’s promise that it “will take care of it right away.”

Mr. Herman said he believes that sending out the settlement letters shows the city is “trying to get money out of people who unwittingly think that’s the best offer Finance will put on the table.”

Mr. Stone said the Journal’s inquiry about the Herman tickets “helped push it along,” but he said the tickets would have been dismissed eventually on the merits.

Councilman David Greenfield of Brooklyn said his office has received complaints about similar problems.

“This is outrageous,” Mr. Greenfield said. “Gone are the days when tickets were about public safety. Today the city is simply out to make a buck. Think about the absurdity: The city gives you a ticket that you never should have gotten in the first place and then offers to settle that ticket.”

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(Source: Wall Street Journal)