New York City has completed the Bronx’s first busway, giving buses priority along Tremont Avenue and targeting faster journeys for about 39,000 daily Bx36 riders.
The Tremont Avenue busway operates seven days a week between 6am and 8pm.
Buses, emergency vehicles, Access-a-Ride vehicles and trucks with six or more wheels can travel through the corridor.
Other vehicles, including taxis and for-hire vehicles, can enter for local access but must leave at the next available right turn.
The Bx36 is one of the Bronx’s busiest routes and provides an important east-west connection across the borough. It also connects passengers with nearby subway services and Metro-North Railroad.
Before the busway, buses on Tremont Avenue could travel as slowly as about 8km/h.
New York City Department of Transportation says the project is designed to reduce the time buses spend caught in general traffic and improve service reliability.
NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn says the busway provides the infrastructure needed to improve existing services while preparing for further upgrades.
“Fast, reliable bus infrastructure has arrived on Tremont Avenue,” Flynn says.
“Bus riders will now spend less time stuck in traffic and more time where they need to be: with their families, friends and making it on time to work and appointments.”
The project was completed about two months after the city announced it would move ahead with the busway.
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber says the infrastructure will complement changes already made to the local bus network.
“The Tremont Avenue Busway has been completed just two months after it was announced, and it’s going to build on MTA’s local bus network redesign to improve speeds and reliability for almost 40,000 daily riders,” Lieber says.
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The completed corridor’s busway will be the corridor’s final form. Tremont Avenue has been identified for further investment under New York’s wider program to improve bus services.
Future work is expected to move the corridor towards bus rapid transit, including streetscape improvements and station-style stops with upgraded passenger shelters. Public engagement on those next-stage improvements is expected to follow.
The current busway therefore focuses primarily on giving buses priority and reducing delays, while establishing a corridor that can support more substantial passenger infrastructure later.
Bus improvements have been delivered alongside road safety work at eight intersections along Tremont Avenue and surrounding streets. NYC DOT says Tremont Avenue is a Vision Zero priority corridor.
Between 2020 and 2024, four people were killed, and nearly 630 were injured in crashes along the avenue.
The redesign includes painted footpath extensions intended to shorten pedestrian crossing distances and slow turning vehicles.
Flexible delineators, granite blocks and bicycle parking have also been installed to discourage illegal parking around the extensions.
The busway serves an area where the city says 72 per cent of households do not own a private car, making reliable public transport along the corridor especially important.
Tremont Avenue is also part of a wider program of bus priority projects being advanced across New York’s five boroughs.
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