How to Find Your NYC Ticket: Parking and Traffic

To find your NYC ticket, you need to know which agency issued it. Parking tickets and red light or speed camera violations are searchable on the NYC Department of Finance’s CityPay portal using your license plate or the 10-digit ticket number.¹ Moving violations written by police in the five boroughs go through the New York State DMV’s Traffic Violations Bureau instead.² Either way, the clock is 30 days from the date of the ticket to pay or request a hearing before penalties start.

Figure Out Which Kind of Ticket You Have

The split matters because searching the wrong system returns nothing, and people often assume the ticket “isn’t in the system yet” when they’re simply on the wrong site.

Parking tickets and camera violations attach to the vehicle. They don’t add points to anyone’s license, and they’re handled by the NYC Department of Finance.³ A red light camera violation is a flat $50.⁴

Moving violations — things like speeding, running a stop sign, or an illegal lane change — attach to the driver, carry points, and can affect insurance. In the five boroughs these go to the NYS DMV’s Traffic Violations Bureau rather than a criminal court.²

Looking Up a Parking Ticket or Camera Violation

The Department of Finance’s online lookup lets you search two ways.¹

By ticket number. Enter the 10-digit number from the ticket or Notice of Liability. An “invalid number” error usually means you entered the wrong number of digits.⁵
By plate number. Enter the plate, the issuing state, and the plate type (passenger, commercial, or vanity). This pulls up every outstanding violation on the vehicle, which is useful if the paper ticket is gone or you suspect there’s more than one.

The results show each ticket’s status, the original fine, and any late penalties added. From the same screen you can pay or request a hearing.

Timing trips people up. Computer-printed tickets usually appear in about five business days, but handwritten tickets can take 10 to 14 days to load.¹ If yesterday’s ticket isn’t there yet, wait a few more days before concluding it was never filed.

Looking Up a Moving Violation

For a single TVB ticket, the DMV’s online lookup needs five pieces of information:⁶

Your full name
Your ZIP code
The ticket number from the citation
The violation date
Your date of birth

If you have more than one ticket, or you want to manage fines across several, log into MyDMV with your NY.gov ID.⁷ Your DMV ID — the nine-digit number on the upper portion of your license or learner permit — identifies you in the system.⁸

The DMV warns that it can take several days after a traffic stop for the ticket to show up online.⁶ A recent stop may just need more time.

When You’ve Lost the Ticket

Not having the paper doesn’t stop you from finding what you owe. For parking or camera violations, the plate-number search on CityPay returns every outstanding ticket on the vehicle without needing the summons number.¹

For a missing TVB ticket, order a driving record abstract through MyDMV for $7.⁹ The abstract lists recent activity including unresolved summonses and current points. The PDF stays in your MyDMV account for five days after purchase. You can also call the Traffic Violations Bureau to have tickets on your license identified.

Disputing the Ticket

Parking and Camera Violations

You can dispute a parking or camera ticket online, by mail, or through the city’s Pay or Dispute mobile app. The deadline that matters is 30 days from the date of issuance; request a hearing within that window and late penalties won’t be added if you lose.¹⁰

An administrative law judge decides the case. In-person hearings produce an immediate ruling; online and mail hearings take up to three weeks. The Department of Finance states that appearing in person doesn’t improve your chances of a dismissal.¹⁰

Moving Violations

TVB works differently from most New York traffic courts: there’s no option to plead guilty by mail at a reduced fine. To fight the ticket, plead not guilty and schedule a hearing — available online, by phone, or by mail — which you can attend in person, virtually, or by submitting a written statement.⁶

Missing the hearing is costly. Your driving privilege gets suspended, additional fines apply, and the judge can convict by default.⁶ If you plead not guilty and later decide to pay, switch the plea to guilty before the hearing date to avoid extra fees.

What Happens If You Miss the 30 Days

Penalties start the moment the 30-day window closes, and the schedule is different for parking versus camera tickets.¹¹

Parking tickets:

After 30 days: $10 penalty added
After 60 days: another $20
After 90 days: another $30
Around 100 days: the ticket enters judgment and 9% annual interest begins

Camera violations:

After 30 days: $25 penalty added
Around 75 days: enters judgment with 9% annual interest

Once a ticket is in judgment, the Department of Finance can garnish wages, freeze bank accounts, place a lien against property, defer or suspend your New York State vehicle registration, or send the debt to collections.¹¹

Vehicles get booted once combined judgment debt reaches $350. At $2,500 or more, or if your registration is invalid, the city can skip the boot and tow immediately. The boot fee alone is $185 on a passenger vehicle under 8,500 pounds, with a $95 Sheriff or Marshal execution fee, a 5% poundage fee on the total collected, and tow and storage charges on top if the vehicle is hauled in.¹² Towed vehicles left long enough in the pound are auctioned.¹¹

Two Things That Catch People Off Guard

A moving-violation conviction can trigger a second bill from the state. Six or more points within an 18-month period brings a Driver Responsibility Assessment of $100 per year for three years, with each additional point adding $25 per year for the same three years. Alcohol- and drug-related convictions carry a flat $750 assessment regardless of points. The DRA is billed separately from the ticket fine, often months later, and not paying it leads to license suspension.

Out-of-state plates don’t make a NYC ticket disappear. The CityPay plate search works the same way for non-New York plates once you select the issuing state.¹ For moving violations, interstate compacts let New York notify your home state of an unresolved ticket, and your home state can then suspend your license. A handful of states — Alaska, California, Michigan, Montana, Oregon, and Wisconsin — aren’t in the Non-Resident Violator Compact, but New York can still suspend your privilege to drive in the state and issue a warrant.

1
NYC.gov. Parking Ticket or Camera Violation Status
2
New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Traffic Violations Bureau
3
New York City Department of Finance. Parking Ticket Services
4
NYC311. Red Light Cameras
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NYC311. Parking Ticket or Camera Violation Assistance
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New York State DMV. Plead To or Pay New York City (NYC) TVB Traffic Tickets
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New York State DMV. Get a Copy of a TVB Ticket Online
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New York State DMV. Information about Transaction Entries
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New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Get My Own Driving Record (Abstract)
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NYC.gov. Dispute a Ticket
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NYC311. Parking Ticket or Camera Violation Payment
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NYC.gov. Vehicle Booting