Mamdani Revives Bronx’s First Busway, Promising Faster Bx36 Service — But Project Cost Remains Unstated
Tremont Avenue Busway is scheduled to launch September 19, restricting through-traffic for most passenger vehicles while City Hall promises faster buses and safer streets for roughly 39,000 daily riders.
NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani announced Wednesday that construction has begun on the Tremont Avenue Busway, a long-delayed transportation project that City Hall says will become the first dedicated busway in the Bronx.
The project targets the Bx36 corridor, where buses can move at less than 5 mph during rush hour, according to the Mayor’s Office. City officials say approximately 39,000 riders use the route each day.
The new busway is scheduled to launch September 19, 2026, and will operate seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
During those hours, buses, qualifying trucks, Access-A-Ride vehicles, emergency vehicles and bicycles will be permitted to travel through the busway. Passenger cars, taxis and for-hire vehicles will still be able to enter Tremont Avenue for local access, pickups and drop-offs, but generally will have to make the next available right turn rather than continue through the corridor. Parking will remain permitted where posted.
City Hall promises up to six minutes saved per trip
At the August 12 press conference, Mamdani described the existing Bx36 service as so slow that buses can move more slowly than pedestrians.
City Hall says busways elsewhere in New York have produced bus-speed improvements of up to 60% and reductions in pedestrian and cyclist injuries of up to 45%.
For Tremont Avenue, the administration says riders could save up to six minutes per trip.
Those figures, however, should be understood as projections rather than measured results from the Tremont project itself. The busway has not yet opened.
The administration says it will also install painted sidewalk extensions, granite blocks, bicycle parking and other intersection treatments intended to shorten pedestrian crossings and discourage illegal parking.
Between 2020 and 2024, the city says nearly 630 people were injured in crashes on Tremont Avenue, including 46 people who suffered severe injuries and four who were killed.
A project that was already designed in 2025
One significant part of Wednesday’s announcement is that Tremont Avenue is not a newly conceived project.
Mamdani acknowledged that NYC DOT’s busway design was already completed in February 2025 and installation had been expected to begin that spring before the previous city administration canceled the project.
“City Hall is bringing the Tremont Avenue busway back to life,” Mamdani said during the press conference.
The transcript supplied from the Mayor’s August 12 event shows Mamdani saying the project had been “fully designed and ready to go” in February 2025 before being canceled.
The current administration is therefore restarting and implementing an existing DOT project rather than designing the busway from scratch.
What exactly will change?
According to NYC DOT, the busway will run:
- Eastbound: Third Avenue to Southern Boulevard
- Westbound: Southern Boulevard to Belmont Avenue
An additional offset eastbound bus/bike lane will run between Webster Avenue and Third Avenue.
City Hall says the project will improve connections to the 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, A, B and D subway lines, Metro-North and other bus routes.
The administration also points to the area’s relatively low car ownership: according to the Mayor’s Office, 72% of households along Tremont Avenue do not own a private vehicle, while 78% of residents commute by public transportation, walking or bicycling.
Cameras and tickets will be part of the system
The project will depend heavily on enforcement.
NYC DOT says the busway will be enforced through stationary cameras, bus-mounted cameras and the NYPD. Violations of bus-lane rules can result in fines ranging from $50 to $250.
That issue came up directly during Mamdani’s press conference.
A reporter pointed to NYPD enforcement data and questioned whether bus lanes can actually remain clear without more aggressive enforcement. Mamdani agreed that enforcement was “critical” and cited automated camera programs as another way to keep vehicles from obstructing buses.
That may become one of the real tests of the project: a bus lane that is routinely blocked by private vehicles and deliveries would produce far less benefit than the administration’s projections assume.
“Fast and free” has become, for now, primarily “fast”
Mamdani campaigned heavily on the idea of fast and free buses.
At Wednesday’s press conference, a reporter explicitly contrasted the two promises, noting that the fare-free portion was not occurring immediately and asking whether saving six minutes really qualifies as “fast.”
Mamdani responded that the immediate goal is first to make buses faster, while longer-term Bus Rapid Transit improvements are intended to make them genuinely fast.
“Our goal is to make it fast,” Mamdani said.
No new citywide fare-free bus program was announced at the event.
Tremont is part of a much larger $882 million plan
The Tremont project is part of the Mamdani administration and MTA’s Next Stop: Fast Buses, Better Service program.
The broader plan identifies 50 priority corridors and targets improvements affecting more than 175 bus routes.
The City has committed $254 million in expense funding and $628 million in capital funding over five fiscal years — a combined city commitment of approximately $882 million.
The stated citywide goal is a 20% increase in bus speeds, reducing some trips by as much as six minutes while expanding bus-priority infrastructure, automated enforcement and eventually more advanced rapid-bus corridors.
Midtown Tribune Fact Check: What is confirmed — and what remains unanswered
Confirmed: Construction has begun; NYC DOT lists September 19 as the launch date; approximately 39,000 daily Bx36 riders are expected to benefit; most private vehicles will lose through-access during daytime busway hours; and automated enforcement will be part of the project.
Also confirmed: The basic Tremont busway was not created by the Mamdani administration. According to Mamdani himself, it had been fully designed by February 2025 and was scheduled for installation before the previous administration canceled it.
Not disclosed in the August 12 announcement: City Hall does not provide a separate price tag for the Tremont Avenue project in its press release. The administration gives an $882 million five-year commitment for the larger Next Stop program, but that should not be presented as the cost of the Tremont busway itself.
There is also a small but notable inconsistency in the city’s own descriptions. The Mayor’s Office says the redesign will provide “one mile of new busway” plus 0.26 miles of bus lane, while NYC DOT’s dedicated project page describes the Tremont Avenue busway as “a half mile long.” The difference may reflect combined directional lane mileage, but the published pages do not clearly reconcile the two measurements.
Finally, the promised 60% speed improvement, six-minute time savings and 45% injury reduction are projections or results drawn from other busway experience — not yet measured Tremont Avenue outcomes. The relevant test begins after September 19: actual Bx36 speeds, reliability, crash data, enforcement levels and the final taxpayer cost.
Official Sources
- NYC Mayor’s Office — August 12, 2026
Fast Buses: Mayor Mamdani Breaks Ground on Bronx’s First Busway Along Tremont Avenue - NYC Mayor’s Office — Official Press Conference Transcript
Mayor Mamdani Breaks Ground on Bronx’s First Busway Along Tremont Avenue — Transcript - NYC Department of Transportation
Tremont Avenue Busway — Route, Hours, Traffic Rules and Enforcement - NYC Mayor’s Office — Next Stop Bus Action Plan
Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul Unveil Historic Plan to Build the Fastest, Best Bus System in New York City History - NYC Department of Transportation — Next Stop
Next Stop: Fast Buses, Better Service — Official Bus Action Plan
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