Bus drivers reject paying red-light tickets

Bus drivers are suing the Pace suburban transit agency to get out of paying tickets issued by red-light cameras.

The $100 tickets sent in the mail by red-light camera companies are issued to the registered owners of the photographed vehicles, which would be Pace in the case of a bus driver working for the agency.

But Pace's policy is to then turn that ticket over to the bus driver, have them pay the fine and discipline them further, said agency spokesman Patrick Wilmot.

That has riled the bus drivers who work out of a Melrose Park Pace garage. Their union, the Amalgamated Transit Workers Union Local 241, representing about 200 drivers in western Cook and eastern DuPage counties, filed the civil suit Wednesday to force Pace to pay the tickets as the registered owner of the bus.

Wilmot declined to directly comment on the lawsuit.

In addition to the $100 fine, first-time offenses for red-light camera tickets land a one-day suspension and a third offense could lead to termination of the bus driver, according to the lawsuit. The suit says "one or more" bus drivers have been suspended out of the Melrose Park garage for receiving red-light tickets. The suit does not indicate how many drivers have received tickets or how many tickets have been issued to Pace bus drivers.