Mayor Mamdani is ending the previous administration’s search for a firm to install cameras on the stop-arms of school buses, the Daily News has learned.
A Department of Transportation spokesman confirmed the Mamdani administration is withdrawing a request for proposals, or RFP, seeking a company to equip city school buses with the cameras, which would automatically issue tickets to cars if they passed the bus while its stop-arm was out.
“The Mamdani administration is committed to protecting children and their families as they travel to and from school, and we will continue doubling down on proven Vision Zero strategies to save lives on our streets,” DOT spokesman Vincent Barone said.
As previously reported by The News, the technology had previously been tested on several dozen of the 950 school buses operated by the city-run nonprofit NYCSBUS.
But Barone said testing yielded few violations or tangible safety benefits, with a two-month test on 40 buses leading to roughly 3,400 tickets being issued — far fewer per camera than automated red-light or speed camera systems.
City data shows zero fatalities from stop-arm violations in recent years, and 50 reported pedestrian injuries in the past nine years.
Barry Williams/ New York Daily News
Mayor Mamdani speaks during a press conference for The Fiscal Year 2027 Executive Budget in the Blue Room at New York City Hall Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
In deciding not to pursue the stop-arm camera, Barone said, the city is seeking to allocate resources toward more persistent threats to pedestrian safety.
The RFP would have resulted in a contract to equip roughly 250 buses with the technology.
As previously reported by The News, the stop-arm RFP raised eyebrows in 2024 when it was spun off as a separate contract from an omnibus contract for citywide automated speed, red-light and overweight-truck enforcement — with sources characterizing it as an effort to carve out a cushy opportunity for connected contractors.
No contract was ultimately awarded in the waning days of the Adams administration.
Roughly 145,000 New York City students rely on school buses in New York City, which are operated by roughly 50 independent contractors.