BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The state's automated school bus enforcement program may need broad changes, Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll said, acknowledging mounting concerns over the volume of appeals tied to the BusPatrol system.
Carroll made the comments Monday during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing after being questioned by state Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Bucks/Lehigh, about delays and overturn rates associated with automated school bus stop-arm violations.
"The entire regiment deserves some sort of reconsideration, whether it’s by BusPatrol or by legislative change,” Carroll said.
Coleman said in a follow-up interview Tuesday that the growing appeal backlog is a symptom of a deeper issue he raised last month: citations that should never have been issued.
“The root cause of the appeals are simply bad tickets,” Coleman said. “The system is issuing bad tickets.”
Coleman said in February he personally reviewed citations alongside a local police department and saw violations that “should have never been issued in the first place.”
He argued that the high overturn rate undermines confidence in the program.
“Listen, if 50 percent of the tickets that the Pennsylvania State Police issued were ultimately overturned in court, no one would take the state police seriously,” Coleman said.
"Absent the addition of a slew of staff members that I don’t think the general assembly or the administration are eager to see happen, I think that an examination of this program is worthy."PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll
“But yet, in this situation, we’re still allowing a system that’s essentially doing just that. And that’s not fair for Pennsylvanians.”
Carroll said the backlog of appeals has become a significant operational problem, particularly as more school districts deploy stop-arm cameras.
“It’s a gigantic challenge,” Carroll said. “It may get worse as more school districts deploy the stop arms. The volume of appeals is overwhelming.
"Absent the addition of a slew of staff members that I don’t think the general assembly or the administration are eager to see happen, I think that an examination of this program is worthy."
Appeal backlog grows statewide
According to data provided by PennDOT, there were 16,289 appeals pending hearings statewide as of Monday.
In the Lehigh Valley, at least nine school districts — including Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton — contract with BusPatrol for school bus stop camera enforcement.
In Allentown, where police approved nearly 8,600 citations from September 2024 to October 2025, there were 783 unresolved violations awaiting hearings as of Monday.
According to PennDOT, Bethlehem Area School District had 387 appeals pending, and Easton Area School District had 254.
Other districts reporting pending hearings include Catasauqua Area with 117 cases, Salisbury Township with 24, Wilson Area with 17, and Northwestern Lehigh with 12.
Allentown Police Chief Charles Roca said the department has approved and issued 4,299 violations since September and declined 142.
Like Carroll, Coleman warned that the problem only will grow as additional districts adopt the system.
"More and more districts are starting on this," he said. "The number is only going to get worse. “In no form of reality should this be a situation where a year from now we’re dealing with the same thing.”
Proposed fixes: technology, appeals or full repeal
Coleman outlined what he described as what could be a multi-pronged approach to reforming the program.
First, he wants BusPatrol to make technical changes to prevent improper citations.
He said the technology exists to build additional safeguards into the system — including ensuring a bus is fully stopped, children are present and amber lights are activated at proper distances — before a violation is triggered.
“All of these triggers need to be built into the system,” Coleman said. “The company has the technology to be able to make that happen.”
If the company makes those changes voluntarily, he said legislation may not be needed for that part of the fix. If it doesn't, lawmakers could mandate those adjustments.
“Pennsylvanians should have a high degree of confidence that if they get a ticket, it means they’ve actually done something wrong and there's a reason they're paying a $300 fine,” he said.
"Everything's on the table, including a complete abrogation of the program."State Sen. Jarrett Coleman
Second, Coleman said the appeals process itself likely will require legislative action.
When the program began, appeals were heard by local magisterial district judges. Currently, they're handled through PennDOT.
“The modification of the appeal process most likely will need to be a legislative solution,” Coleman said.
He said drivers should be able to choose to have their case heard by a local magisterial district judge — similar to other traffic citations.
He said that would both increase access and help clear the backlog.
“That gives them the ability to go locally, to get heard quicker,” he said. “People have a right to due process and not to be waiting for a year and a half to be heard.”
LehighValleyNews.com has reached out to the PA Courts to determine whether magisterial district judges would have the capacity to absorb cases if appeals were redirected from the current administrative process.
The third option, he said, is to fully repeal the law.
"We just completely abolish, or we abrogate the whole camera system law," he said.
"And that's an option that we would rather not go down. But everything's on the table, including a complete abrogation of the program."
Coleman said any concerns raised by local courts about absorbing thousands of cases would have to be addressed, but emphasized that timely due process must come first.
“At the end of the day, it’s about what’s best for Pennsylvanians," he said.
"And making sure that they have timely access to appeal and proper due process is the most important thing."
