Future of East Tremont Busway splits community
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.
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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 34,000 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.
"If you're going somewhere like school or work, you have to go an hour early," said Cherelle Barnes, who rides the BX36 every day.
To try to speed up the line, the city proposed making East Tremont Ave 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 buses, trucks and emergency vehicles would be allowed to drive through it.
"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," said Barnes.
"That would be good for people taking the bus, but I think everybody else is going to be aggravated," said Sammy Rivera, another daily rider.
He was right, as local businesses quickly pushed back on the idea.
"That's terrible for the commute, for the customers, and for other businesses too," said Milly Morales, the manager at Webster Drugs - one of the stores on East Tremont.
Many of them said they rely on people just driving by, seeing their stores and then pulling over to run in - business they would lose if the busway was installed.
"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."
The city seems to have heard them, as the mayor's office tells News 12 that they are now "reevaluating" the plan.
"Tremont is way down, way down, I've never seen it so down before," said Williams. "So that would just kill Tremont completely."
The mayor's office says they will be talking more with people in the community to find what they call a "broader consensus" about what they should do.
