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Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Even the school buses take your money in Allentown

 A newer money maker has been implemented to make money for the city of Allentown. Probably some of you have been caught already.  The good ole school bus arm.  Buspatrol LLC has been implemented on the city school buses for a few years now. Basically its a camera system that takes photos/videos of people who drive past a school bus when its arm is out. Then a citation is mailed to them. Best part is You really cant really fight it.



Opps wait.  Your going to be found guilty. Or are you? There is alot of critics that claim this system isnt accurate.  Mostly violators that got caught, fought it, and the video showed they didn't break the law. But of the half of people who actually pay the fine, very few plead not guilty.  

Direct from LehighValleyNews.com 

"From September 2024 to October 2025, Allentown police approved 8,598 citations, or 96% of all alleged school bus camera violations they reviewed — a proportion far greater than those in other Lehigh Valley school districts, according to data from numerous school bus camera programs"

I want to know which officer at the Allentown Police Department reviewed 8598 violations lol.  Gimme a break.  There is no one that did that. There are 180 school days a year.  That means roughly someone reviewed 47 violations a day. Yea okay.  Or if buspatrol doesnt send videos everyday and maybe once a week, your talking 250 videos.  

Obviously, there is a need to protect students, and people drive right passed the school buses every day.  People need to be aware of buses and should be fined if they dont stop. I am in total agreement with this.

However...The big thing with this camera system is the revenue it makes for Buspatrol and the Allentown school district.

BusPatrol is becoming rich off of drivers.  The city PD barely benefits from this system.  Of course BusPatrol and the school district didnt want anyone to know how much they benefit from this program.  Curious why? Maybe they dont want to share?

Here is the split 

Each $300 ticket includes two fixed surcharges: $25 to the state’s School Bus Safety Grant Fund and $25 to the local police department. The remaining $250 goes toward the shared arrangement between the school district and BusPatrol. The split of the $250 is a 60/40 split the 60 going to BusPatrol.

I really think the school board uses this as a money maker with safety being 2nd. They are raking in 100s of thousands a year, yet its a big secret.

The police department hasn't faired well over the past 13months with what they get totalling $53,212 in surcharges.

This isnt shocking 

Allentown police approved 96% of citations over 13 months, other local departments were far more selective.

Salisbury police approved only 42% of those they reviewed. Bethlehem approved 58%; Easton, 76%; and Wilson, 72%, according to data from the respective school bus camera programs.

The reason everyone is probably guilty in Allentown is because no officer is actually reviewing the violations. lmao.


That makes me laugh that in Allentown you are 96% guilty vs the neighboring areas.  Thats ridiculous.   Great job APD. 

BusPatrol said enforcement and the decision to issue a citation rests entirely with police. Of course it does. They just want their cut. They dont care if violations actually occured.

Please stop at school buses.  Just think the last thing you want to do is give ASD or APD two greedy organizations any more money.







5 comments:

Anonymous said...

ASD is shady. And no these cameras arent accurate. I drove by a school bus in a parking lot at a football game and got a ticket.

Anonymous said...

I bet the mayor doesnt use all the traffic citations from these school buses when he says crime is down

Scott Armstrong said...

The erratic driving, stopping with lights on but no stop sign out confuses people. People see this and begin to pass when bam the sign swings out. One could have started to go around before the sign was out and be ticketed . I know people this has happened.

Anonymous said...

Having been ticketed in Upper Mac township for an offense that never happened, I found out that the driver's word is "it" while your word is shit! (The only person behind the wheel the law believes... your passenger is even suspect in court)
Being within earshot of the officer telling the driver "just tell the truth" infuriated me. Fortunately, the judge saw thru the charade and used a technicality to dismiss the ticket, but it still left a filthy taste in my mouth and it bothers me to this day. If you see a stopped bus, do yourself a favor and BACK UP and get away from it. And BTW, I made my right turn by the bus, not in it's path, but to it's left while it was stopped and BEFORE it proceeded AFTER the lights were turned off.

Scott Armstrong said...

You should investigate how Ripple Communities and the mayor are destroying the West Park historic community

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