Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn announced on September 23 the completion of the Tremont Avenue busway in the Bronx, the borough’s first, delivering a dedicated corridor for 39,000 daily riders on the Bx36 that now operates seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Tremont Avenue serves the Bx36, where buses have historically traveled as slowly as 5 mph. The corridor connects riders to nearby subway routes and the Metro-North Railroad, and runs through a transit-dependent area where 72 percent of households do not own a private car. The busway was completed two months after it was announced.
Along the corridor, buses, trucks with six or more wheels, emergency vehicles and Access-a-Ride vehicles are permitted to travel the full route. Other vehicles, including taxis and for-hire vehicles, may enter only for local access and must exit at the next available right turn.
Tremont Avenue is one of the corridors prioritized in Next Stop: Fast Buses, Better Service, Mamdani’s partnership with Governor Kathy Hochul and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to make bus service faster and more reliable across 175 bus routes. The new busway also lays groundwork for future bus rapid transit along a broader Tremont Avenue corridor, which, as outlined in the plan, would add streetscape improvements and station-like bus stops with improved shelters. Flynn said NYC DOT will begin the public outreach process soon.
“Two months ago, we announced that the City would finally move forward with the Bronx’s long-delayed busway. Today, it’s officially up and running,” Mamdani said. “For 39,000 daily riders, that means less time stuck in traffic and more time getting where you need to go. This is what it looks like when we build a city that respects New Yorkers’ time and makes our streets safer for everyone.”
Tremont Avenue is a Vision Zero priority corridor and among the most dangerous streets in the Bronx. Between 2020 and 2024, four people were killed and nearly 630 people were injured in crashes along the corridor, an average of two injuries every week. Of those injured, 46 people were severely injured over that period.
As part of the busway installation, NYC DOT added safety improvements at eight intersections along the corridor and nearby streets, including Tremont Avenue at Webster Avenue, at Third Avenue, and at Southern Boulevard and Crotona Parkway, along with Third Avenue at East 175th Street and additional intersections at 180th Street and Washington Avenue. The redesign includes painted sidewalk extensions that shorten pedestrian crossing distances and curb extensions reinforced with flexible delineators, granite blocks and bicycle parking to discourage illegal parking.
“When I stood with Mayor Mamdani to launch New York’s most ambitious plan to improve bus service in history, we promised riders that we would move fast to deliver the better service they deserve,” Hochul said. “Now, by delivering the Bronx’s first busway along Tremont Avenue, 39,000 bus riders will benefit from faster trips and better service and the entire community will benefit from safer streets that move better for all.”
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber tied the pace of the project to the alignment of the agencies involved. “When the State, City and MTA are all on the same page, results come quick,” he said. “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.”
Danny Pearlstein, Policy and Communications Director at Riders Alliance, said Bronx riders depend on buses more than other New Yorkers. “Finally, the Bronx has a busway, saving time and aggravation for 39,000 daily riders,” Pearlstein said. “Now, the Mamdani administration has put bus riders first on Tremont Avenue, speeding commutes up and down hills, across the borough and to healthcare jobs and appointments in Washington Heights.”
Lisa Sorin, President of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, said the corridor matters for local merchants. “Tremont Avenue is a lifeline for the small businesses along the corridor and for the workers and customers who reach them by bus every day, and in a community where most households don’t own a car, a faster, safer Tremont should mean more customers and easier commutes,” Sorin said. She said the chamber looks forward to working with the City on how deliveries, loading and customer access work for merchants.
In 2026, the Mamdani administration has advanced bus speed projects across all five boroughs, including Fordham Road and 161st Street in the Bronx; 34th Street, 116th Street, Madison Avenue and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan; Marcy Avenue, Flatbush Avenue, Utica Avenue, Church Avenue and Linden Boulevard in Brooklyn; Victory Boulevard on Staten Island; and Broadway in Queens.
More information is available at nyc.gov/tremontbusway.
Featured image: Courtesy updates.cityhall.nyc.gov
