The Bronx officially has its very first busway, and Tremont Avenue will never drive the same.
After years of delays, the city launched its long-awaited busway on September 19, changing how buses, cars and trucks move through one of the borough’s busiest stretches.
The goal is simple: get the Bx36 out of traffic and moving again.
Here’s everything riders and drivers need to know, including the rules that can land you a ticket.
Where the busway runs and when it’s in effect
The busway covers about half a mile of Tremont Avenue, according to NYC DOT:
- Eastbound: Third Avenue to Southern Boulevard
- Westbound: Southern Boulevard to Belmont Avenue
The rules apply every single day from 6 am to 8 pm, weekends included.
Once 8 pm hits, the busway’s vehicle and turning restrictions lift, and any vehicle can drive through and turn, unless signs say otherwise.
Who can drive the full busway
During busway hours, these vehicles can travel through without making the required turns:
- Buses
- Qualifying trucks
- Access-A-Ride vans
- Emergency vehicles
- Bikes (there’s a bike lane that runs the full length)
DOT defines a truck as a vehicle designed to transport property with more than two axles or six or more tires.
Bikes can also travel the full stretch using the bike lane, without making the turns required of passenger vehicles.
The rules for cars, taxis and rideshares
This is where drivers need to pay attention.
Private cars, taxis and for-hire vehicles like Uber and Lyft aren’t banned outright, but the busway is definitely not a shortcut.
You can turn onto Tremont from a side street, but you’ll have to make the next available right turn to get off.
You can still pick up and drop off passengers along the busway, and parking is allowed where the signs permit it. Those activities don’t exempt you from the next-available-right-turn rule.
One more biggie: no left turns off the busway during operating hours. The only exception is for trucks turning left at Third Avenue.
The city isn’t playing around with enforcement, either. NYPD traffic agents and automated cameras are watching the corridor, and breaking the bus lane rules can cost you anywhere from $50 to $250.
Need another way through? DOT suggests 180th Street, 179th Street, 175th Street or the Cross Bronx Expressway for westbound trips, and 180th Street, Crotona Park North or the Cross Bronx for eastbound ones.
Why Tremont needed a busway
The Bx36 carries about 39,000 riders a day, but on this stretch it had been crawling along at as little as 5 mph. That’s barely faster than a brisk walk.
And with about 72% of households along the corridor not owning a car, a lot of people were stuck on that slow ride every single day.
The city expects the busway to make buses up to 60% faster along the stretch.
“Finally, the Bronx has a busway, saving time and aggravation for 39,000 daily riders,” Riders Alliance’s Danny Pearlstein said in the city’s completion announcement.
It’s been a long road to get here. The busway was originally set to roll out in spring 2025, but the previous administration put it on pause. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s team broke ground in August, and announced it was up and running on September 23.
Safer crossings at eight intersections
The busway is also about safety. From 2020 to 2024, crashes on Tremont Avenue killed four people and injured nearly 630, which works out to about two injuries a week.
To help, the city redesigned eight intersection locations along and near the corridor:
- Tremont Avenue and Webster Avenue
- Tremont Avenue and Third Avenue
- Tremont Avenue at Southern Boulevard and Crotona Parkway
- Third Avenue and East 175th Street
- Southern Boulevard at Crotona Parkway and 180th Street
- Crotona Avenue and 180th Street
- Third Avenue and 180th Street
- Tremont Avenue and Washington Avenue
The improvements include painted sidewalk extensions reinforced with flexible posts, granite blocks and bike parking. They’re designed to shorten crossings, slow turning vehicles and discourage illegal parking, so those corners may look a little different on your next walk or drive.
What it means for your next trip down Tremont
Riders don’t have to do a thing! Just hop on the Bx36 like usual and enjoy what should be a speedier trip.
Drivers can still enter from side streets to reach a block, pick up or drop off passengers, or use legal parking. But from 6 am to 8 pm, passenger vehicles—including taxis and rideshares—must leave at the next available right turn.
Want the full rundown? DOT has a handy guide to using the Tremont Avenue busway in English and Spanish.