Before Scranton School District buses are outfitted with cameras to catch traffic violators, many legal questions need answers and an ordinance must be written, district officials said Monday.
The monitoring system from Louisiana-based Bus Shield would be used to issue citations for people illegally passing stopped buses. There would be no cost to the district, and the district and city of Scranton would each get 12 percent of the fine costs. The other 76 percent would go to Bus Shield. The district has about 25 buses that complete 60 routes a day.
During a transportation committee meeting Monday afternoon, representatives from Bus Shield spoke about the steps needed before the district would see any money from the camera system.
Multiple cameras would be located on the inside of the bus, and a camera outside on the stop arm would capture license plates of those illegally passing the stopped bus. The system can be viewed remotely, and the district would need to hire someone to monitor the feeds. The company recommends an off-duty police officer or member of the military be the one to view the footage.
The system would also monitor the bus's mechanical system and location, and parents would be able to download a phone application to view the location of their child's bus.
Revenue from citations would pay for the district monitor, Bus Shield representatives said.
"I think it's a win-win situation, and we get revenue on top of that," said Director Bob Sheridan, chairman of the transportation committee. Bill Fox was the only other school director present at Monday's committee meeting.
There are no districts in Pennsylvania that now use Bus Shield, and a few districts in Iowa and Texas are testing the system, said Louis DeLong, managing member of the company.
The fine for passing a stopped bus is about $300, and the state keeps most of that, said Scranton acting Police Chief Carl Graziano, who attended the meeting. The ordinance would need to bypass the state statute, company representatives said. Both the district and city solicitors will need to get involved, with Scranton City Council eventually having to pass the ordinance.
How much the district could expect to receive is unknown. At a meeting last month, Chief Graziano estimated that about 50 citations for passing buses were issued last year - far fewer than representatives from Bus Shield estimated would be issued.
Directors will discuss the system again at their March 25 work session, with a possible vote on April 1 to allow Bus Shield to study the bus routes.
Contact the writer: shofius@timesshamrock.com, @hofiushallTT on Twitter