The East Tremont Community is split over whether or not the city should turn a half-mile stretch of East Tremont Avenue into a busway.
The area is serviced by the Bx36 bus line, which the city says has 36,000 riders every day.
However, a recent report from the New York City Comptroller’s Office says it is late over one-third of the time and has about average speed of under 7 mph, earning it a “D” grade.
To try to speed up the line, the city proposed making East Tremont Avenue a busway eastbound from Third Avenue to Southern Boulevard, and westbound from Southern Boulevard to Belmont Avenue.
What that means is while cars would still be able to turn on to individual blocks and park, from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. every day, only busses, trucks and emergency vehicles would be allowed to drive through it.
Frequent bus riders, like Cherelle Barnes, said they would be in favor of that idea, telling News 12 “we need more of that, because its very frustrating to have to worry about motorcyclists stopping the bus, or people parking in the bus lane.”
However, not everyone is a fan, so much so that the mayor’s office says they are now “re-evaluating” the plan, and will be talking more with people in the community to find what they call a “broader consensus.”
Many of those opposed are the businesses that line the street, who say they rely on people just driving by, seeing their store and then pulling over to run in.
“That would be the worst idea for East Tremont right now,” said Robert Williams, the manager of 784 Hardware. “It’s bad enough there’s a lot of stores closing, that would make it even worse.”
Businesses say they also worry the busway would make parking harder, since more cars would just stay in their spaces all day, and there would be less turnover to free up spots.