B44 ticket fiasco still rolling

The city still hasn’t hit the brakes on the B44 bus lane ticket fiasco.

After sending out multiple tickets weeks late to motorists who drove in the Select Bus Service B44 bus lane last spring, the Departments of Finance and Transportation sent out letters assuring the drivers that they would only have to pay one of the tickets, all other violation issued between March 18 and Aug. 31 would be withdrawn, and those who had already paid multiple tickets would get a refund.

But new delayed tickets continue to arrive, late fees for supposedly withdraw tickets keep accruing, and the refund process has left some drivers unsatisfied.

A new ticket popped up in one driver’s account — who already paid the only ticket the city said she owed — and she said she’s worried this is the beginning of another blitz.

“One ticket can ruin everything,” said Yelena Vasilenko, who already has a $25 late fee for a March ticket she didn’t know she still owed. “I paid the one they mentioned in the letter.”

In August — following a month of confusion since the delayed-ticket blitz started — the city issued its first official statement to the affected drivers, assuring them they only had to pay the one ticket specifically noted in their individualized letters.

But since then, new drivers who hadn’t received the amnesty letters are now being bombarded with multiple, weeks-old tickets — and facing the same disorganized response from the city. Drivers trying to fight their tickets still must take time off work to appear in traffic court, even though the city says multiple tickets would be dismissed.

One driver who just received a ticket from June 12 said the judge told her to wait 30 days to see if she receives more tickets.

“Now that I got it so late, it’s like, ‘Oh my god,’ ” said Lisa Green, who worries that she is going to be hit with more tickets. “That is the route I take every day I go to work.”

The promised refunds are also grinding drivers’ gears, like one Midwood motorist who had already paid about $1,000 worth of the tickets before he knew that most would be dismissed. The fines were refunded — but not the processing fees.

“On average, it’s about $3 per tickets,” said Peter Allen. “If you pay 10 tickets, that’s $30.”

The traffic cameras that automatically read plate numbers of vehicles in the select bus lane are run by a contractor called American Traffic Solutions.

The firm did not respond by press time to inquiries about why the tickets have been issued so many weeks after the violations took place.

The city did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the new flurry of delayed tickets being issued.