Eyes on the Street: Bus Lanes Are Coming to Webster Avenue

The Bronx is set to receive its second Select Bus Service route along Webster Avenue and Melrose Avenue. Within a quarter-mile of the route, 61 percent of residents commute by transit, according to DOT, and nearly three-quarters of households are car-free. While buses won’t run in the center lanes — an alignment that Chicago is pursuing on Ashland Avenue because it leads to fewer conflicts with car traffic — the dedicated transit lanes will extend for more than four miles, from East 167th Street to East Gun Hill Road.

Completion of the bus lanes and off-board fare collection machines is scheduled to wrap up soon, with service beginning this summer. Next year, DOT is expecting to install bus bulbs — sidewalk expansions that provide more space for passengers and faster boardings at bus stops. Extension of this Select Bus Service route south to the RFK Triborough Bridge and LaGuardia Airport, meanwhile, is still in the study phase.