NYC camera tickets vs parking tickets

Last reviewed October 24, 2026 · Based on the city’s own pages

nyfinepay is an independent private service, not the City of New York. You can always pay the city directly, which may cost less.

The main difference

A parking ticket is usually put on your windshield by an enforcement agent. A camera ticket is created from images captured by a camera and sent to the registered owner of the vehicle by mail. Nobody is standing at your car, so many people first learn about a camera ticket when the notice arrives, or when they look up their plate.

School zone speed cameras

These are issued to the owner of a vehicle seen going over the speed limit in a school zone. According to the city, the cameras have run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round since August 1, 2022. The owner is responsible if the car was driven with their permission and the camera saw it more than 10 mph over the posted limit. See the city’s school zone camera page, which also lists possible defenses, for example that the camera captured a different car or was not working.

Red light cameras

The registered owner is responsible regardless of who was driving. The city says red light camera tickets do not put points on a driving record. The notice has photos of the car entering the crosswalk on red, passing through the intersection, and a close-up of the plate; you view the evidence on the website printed on the notice. Late payment adds a $25 penalty. More on the city’s red light camera page.

Bus lane cameras

Cameras at certain bus lane locations photograph vehicles that break the bus lane rules, and the owner gets a summons in the mail. For street-mounted cameras, the city’s fines go up with repeat violations within a 12-month period: $50 for the first, $100 for the second, $150 for the third, $200 for the fourth and $250 for each after that, as of August 19, 2024. Violations caught by cameras on MTA buses follow different rules. See the bus lane camera page.

Other camera programs

The city also lists other camera violations on its tickets page, such as weigh-in-motion and cameras on MTA buses. If your notice is for a program not mentioned here, the notice itself and the city’s pages tell you how it works.

How the timeline differs

• Notice: mailed to the registered owner some time after the violation. Check the date on the notice.
• 30 days: pay or request a hearing; after that, a $25 penalty is added to a camera ticket.
• About 65 days: the city mails a final notice.
• About 75 days: the ticket can go into judgment (about 100 days for parking tickets).

Seeing the evidence

Use your violation number and the PIN on the notice to view photos and video. Copies of the notice itself can be requested from the city, as described in how to find your summons number.

Paying a camera ticket

You pay a camera ticket the same ways as a parking ticket: online, in the city’s app, by mail or at a business center. nyfinepay lists camera tickets that show up on your plate and lets you pay them with parking tickets in one order. If you think the ticket is wrong, contest it before you pay.