Some 400 infringement notices have been issued and $31,950 collected in fines from motorists who have ignored bus lane rules since 2009.
Since that date, Tauranga City Council staff have carried out bus-lane enforcement under authority from police and on behalf of the New Zealand Transport Agency.
Of 400 tickets issued, 35 have been waived and 213 paid. The rest are in various stages of processing.
Getting caught driving in a bus lane will cost you $150.
City council team leader for parking Kevin Nally, said the monitoring camera also picked up illegal parking in lanes.
Mr Nally said council was unable to easily isolate how many parking offences had been ticketed since 2009, but "probably" no more than 12 per year.
When monitoring first started, it was five days a week. However, when the harbour bridge opened, compliance in the lanes improved, and monitoring was reduced to three days a week. Currently staff monitor the lanes between 7am and 9am.
Bus lane enforcement is an additional job tasked to the six full-time parking officers.
Illegal use of a bus lane is a "moving violation" and, in 2009, the Commissioner of Police warranted non-police to also be able to enforce the rules.
Council transportation operations manager Martin Parkes said the monitoring was important given how much the city council, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and the transport agency invested in making Tauranga's transport network more sustainable.
Monitoring ensured bus travel was faster and more reliable, which in turn was believed to entice more people to choose public transport.
Overall, Mr Parkes said most Tauranga motorists were pretty good. He said monitoring and enforcement of the lanes was set to continue.
Meanwhile, the total cost of parking enforcement activity for the 2010/2011 financial year was $899,704.
This figure includes salaries of parking officers, administration costs and shares of council overheads, including computers, transport and cleaning.
The total revenue from parking activity for the same financial year was $4,407,578.
This includes revenue from parking buildings, on and off street parking, leased parks and infringements.
What you can expect to pay
Driving in a bus lane - $150
Parking in a special vehicle lane - $60
Parking on broken yellow lines - $60
Parking obstructing a vehicle entrance - $40
Parking on a footpath - $40