Not too long ago, New York City officials implemented A.I.-powered cameras on 1,020 MTA public buses. The reasoning was simple: to spot and cite drivers illegally parked in bus lanes. City officials gave drivers a grace period of six months, mailing warnings to the registered address of offended vehicles.

Illegally parked cars are not only annoying, but they cause traffic jams if buses aren’t able to pull over in designated lanes, make bus-only turns, or follow routes.

Now the grace period is over in some areas, and A.I. cameras have been mailing $50 tickets to illegally parked drivers. If they’re caught again, the they’re sent a $100 ticket. The third offense raises the fine to $150. A fourth offense will cost someone $200, and every ticket after that is $250.

Of course, before a violation is sent, it’s supposed to be reviewed by a human coordinator to ensure the citation is legitimate. Apparently, the human part of the equation wasn’t pulling the weight it was supposed to, as thousands of violations slipped through the cracks along routes that are still in the “warning” phase.

There are ‘programming kinks’ to work out

So far, NBC New York reported that the cameras cited over 3,800 illegally parked drivers when they weren’t supposed to, as buses along the M79 and Bx35 routes were still in the “warning” phase.

Some drivers were issued tickets for being parked legally, as the A.I. was not programmed to take certain parking scenarios into account.

George Han was one of 870 drivers who were ticketed despite being parked legally. He told the outlet he was ticketed for blocking a bus lane even though he was parked along alternate side zones that sometimes involve parking along the bus route.

“At first I wasn’t worried, because I know the parking rules and these are legal spots,” Han said. “It turns out that the tickets kept coming though. We are up to about ten now.”

Doing the math on the citation parameters above, it means he’s been issued about $2,000 for 10 parking tickets if every citation after the fourth offense is $250. Han was frustrated that humans weren’t keeping a close enough eye on A.I.

“Certainly when we’re thinking about the role of artificial intelligence in our society and the rollout of these programs it really has to be done in an intentional way that utilizes some level of common sense before you turn these systems on,” he said.

MTA says drivers won’t be charged

Tim Minton, the Communications Director for the MTA, said the warning phase was to be used as a way to make sure everything is right before A.I. cameras begin citing drivers.

“One of the purposes of the warning phase for newly activated routes is to work out any issues before anyone is actually ticketed,” he said. “In this situation, there were programming kinks, both in the mapping of curb areas and the timing of warnings themselves — all of which have now been resolved.”

Minton also assured reporters that all drivers incorrectly cited, including Han, will not be expected to pay the fine. Even those who were parked illegally will not have to pay. If anyone did pay, they will be refunded.