PPS, BusPatrol make $2.7M in nine months from school bus camera tickets

PITTSBURGH — 11 Investigates is following the money collected from tickets from people accused of passing stopped school buses.

BusPatrol’s cameras which use AI to catch drivers breaking the law, are rolling on 217 Pittsburgh Public School Buses. Pittsburgh Public School Police then review the footage from BusPatrol and determine whether or not a violation should be mailed out.

11 Investigates filed Right to Know Requests and learned only 18 percent of people who get a ticket, fight it. Most pay the $300 fine and move on.

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Everyone we talked to agrees that people who pass stopped school buses, break the law and put children in danger, should be ticketed.

“They serve a purpose,” Jerry Korman tells 11 Investigates. “I imagine the drivers are not thrilled about it.”

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In May of 2024, Penndot took over hearings for people fighting their tickets from local magistrates. 11 Investigates learned in the nine months since PennDOT took over, Pittsburgh public schools mailed out 9,028 tickets.

At $300 a pop, that’s $2,708,400 In revenue.

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Pittsburgh Public Schools says BusPatrol was paid $1,743,887.95 in those 9 months, while the school district whose police approve the tickets, got $951,000 in revenue.

“They’re making money off the tickets?” Brian Fulton asked. “The police officers who cite them? Yeah ... No. I didn’t know that, but no, they definitely should not. If they’re getting that much money, the system in which they ticket people seems to be flawed.”

“From everything I hear, the school district could use a few extra bucks these days,” Jerry Korman added.

To handle the workload of people fighting their tickets, the state added positions.

PennDOT now has eight full-time employees, including one Senior Legal Analyst Supervisor and seven Legal Analysts.

11 Investigates dug into the salaries to fill each of these positions.

It’s roughly a half to ¾ of a million dollars each year. PennDOT is fronting the cost of the salaries and is supposed to be reimbursed by the district or BusPatrol.

We have offered interviews to Pittsburgh Public Schools and BusPatrol to talk about the program. They continue to decline our offer.

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