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If you've ever watched a Bronx bus inch along East Tremont Avenue at slower than walking speed, relief may finally be on the horizon.
Construction will begin next month on the Bronx's first-ever busway, a street redesign that gives buses priority over most private cars in an effort to make one of the borough's most frustrating commutes significantly faster. According to the city's Department of Transportation, the project is expected to be in place by the end of the year.
The new busway will be a half mile in both directions between Third Avenue and Southern Boulevard on East Tremont Avenue. Like Manhattan's successful 14th Street busway, the corridor will restrict through traffic for most private vehicles but let buses, trucks and emergency vehicles move more freely through congestion. It's a welcome change on a street where the Bx36 currently averages just 5 mph during rush hour—about the speed of a brisk walk.
The project is also one of the first visible pieces of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's broader plan to speed up bus travel across the city. Earlier this month, the city and MTA unveiled a joint initiative targeting the 50 slowest, busiest bus corridors in New York, with the goal of increasing bus speeds by 20-percent. The strategy includes more dedicated bus lanes, traffic signals that prioritize buses, queue-jump lights that let buses get a head start at intersections and improved bus stops with additional seating and shelters.
East Tremont Avenue will also receive even bigger upgrades beyond this initial busway. The city plans to eventually turn a longer stretch of the corridor, running alongside the Cross Bronx Expressway, into a full bus rapid transit route with dedicated lanes and larger, station-like stops. Public outreach on that phase is expected to begin later this year.
If the Bronx busway performs anything like its Manhattan predecessor, there's plenty of reason for optimism: after the 14th Street busway debuted in 2019, the DOT reported that bus speeds increased by roughly 24-percent.
For a borough where buses are a daily necessity for tens of thousands of residents—not just a backup when the subway isn't cooperating—that could mean less time staring out the window in traffic and more time actually getting where you need to go.