Birmingham bus lane enforcement system

Abstract

The MVA Consultancy (MVA) was appointed by Birmingham City Council to provide consultancy services for the design and implementation of a trial system to deter illegal use of bus lanes. The main purpose of the system was to provide an automated system to deter drivers of unauthorised vehicles from using the bus lane. The bus lane enforcement system consists of video camera and vision processing equipment mounted within an operational bus. The system digitally photographs vehicles in the bus lane 20m ahead of it and transmits the registration number of those vehicles to a variable message sign near the end of the bus lane. The digital images are stored and can be used for subsequent enforcement procedures. This paper describes the equipment and its installation provided by Golden River Traffic Ltd., the field trial and the evaluation of the equipment's performance.