By Jorge Casuso
July 6, 2026 -- The City of Santa Monica last week began issuing $93 tickets to the owners of vehicles that were caught on camera stopped or parked illegally in bike lanes.
The Automated Bike Lane Enforcement program -- which uses an advanced camera systems mounted on City Parking Enforcement vehicles -- began citing the owners on Wednesday after a 60 day warning period ended June 30.
"Vehicles stopped or parked illegally in bike lanes create serious safety risks, forcing bicyclists into active traffic lanes and increasing the likelihood of collisions," City officials said.
"When a vehicle is identified blocking a bike lane, an evidence package is generated and reviewed by a Parking Enforcement officer before a citation is issued."
Payment plans are available to individuals with low income, officials said.
The fines are being issued some two years after the City Council gave the go-ahead to test the program using cameras mounted on two parking enforcement vehicles operated on several streets near Downtown and along Ocean Park Boulevard.
During the two weeks between May 6 and June 19, 2024, the cameras videotaped a total of 1,679 parking violations in bicycle lanes, or an average of about 5 incidents per vehicle-hour.
The violations included 276 that involved vehicles that either completely or partially blocked the bike lanes, according to a report to the Council from the Transportation Department.
"The cameras recorded cyclists present in the bike lane a total of 62 times over the pilot period," the report said.
These violations "could be seen as causing greater risk to road users, especially bicyclists who might have to leave the bike lane and move into vehicular traffic to avoid illegally parked vehicles," the report said.
The remaining 1,403 violations were noted when two of the vehicle’s wheels were on the white line of the bike lane, according to the report.
Around a quarter of the total violations were committed by 160 repeat offenders, with 14 drivers responsible for four or more incidents.
The biggest offender was a food truck that was captured by the system 13 times, while a freight delivery truck was the most frequent repeat offender when it came to blocking all or part of a bicycle lane.
The full enforcement comes after Santa Monica reported 52 Fatal and Severe Injury (FSI) crashes last year, down from a record 62 in 2024.
The FSI crashes last year resulted in three deaths, all of them pedestrians, marking a drop from the 3 pedestrians and 2 bicyclists killed in 2024, according to data provided by the City.
Of last year's crashes resulting in severe injuries, 19 involved pedestrians, 5 involved bicyclists and 3 involved scooters, according to the data. The other 23 involved only motorists.