Hundreds of smart cameras on mobile enforcement cars or mounted on poles in Pittsburgh are leading a tech-aided war on illegal parking.

The Pittsburgh Parking Authority says it’s only trying to better enforce parking laws, but all that surveillance is making some people uneasy. 

AI-monitored parking in Pittsbugh

There’s no need for a human meter reader when the parking authority deploys its plate-reading enforcement cars. Mounted scanners can determine if a vehicle has paid or hasn’t paid to park simply by driving by — taking a picture of each vehicle with a ticket to follow coming in the mail. 

The mobile scanners allow the Pittsburgh Parking Authority to cover huge swaths of the city without ever getting out of the car. It’s all part of the authority’s tech-aided war on illegal parking, which is now covering Pittsburgh like a blanket. 

“We’re now able to consistently enforce throughout the whole city,” Dave Onorato of the Pittsburgh Parking Authority said.

The authority’s smart cameras are now everywhere. For the past two years, it has been catching illegal parkers in designated curbside loading zones, and more recently, the city has mounted 110 cameras over its bike lanes, ringing up vehicles that might park or linger in one for more than 90 seconds.  

From the authority’s point of view, the added surveillance has enhanced safety and been both productive and profitable. Through September of this year, the authority issued 226,000 tickets compared to 177,000 over the same period last year. Year-to-date revenues were $8.7 million compared to $7.2 million.

“We’ve seen greater payments coming through,” Onorato said. “And people still have the ability to contest the ticket if they like. But we do give them photos of the violation when we send them the notice in the mail.”

People uneasy about possible “surveillance state” 

But this network of mobile and mounted smart cameras makes some people uneasy. 

“More and more we are living in a surveillance state,” University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris said.

The authority says it’s not violating privacy laws and isn’t keeping the digital data or sharing it with law enforcement, but Harris says there should be some limits on the proliferation of surveillance cameras.  

Some of those people ticketed say it’s all about the money. They miss the discretion of a human meter reader who might be inclined not to issue a ticket in some circumstances. A ride-share driver told KDKA he stopped in a bike lane to drop off a passenger at West Penn Hospital, and it took more than 90 seconds. He’s had to appeal his ticket at traffic court.  

But the camera surveillance shows no sign of abating. The Pittsburgh Parking Authority’s board just approved the $1.7 million purchase of 16 new AI-enhanced scanners to roam the city and issue tickets. 

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