Whatever happened to The Bus Mayor?
Mayor Adams decision to shelve plans for an upgraded bus lane to Fordham Road last year has had a predictable result: buses on the crosstown Bronx route are still crawling at the same slow speed.
Buses on the congested commercial corridor in the Bronx are moving barely faster than 5 miles per hour going east and west between Fordham Plaza and University Avenue, Streetsblog found in multiple rides on the Bx12 on a weekday last week. That's as slow as buses were moving last year when the Department of Transportation highlighted the need to improve bus service on Fordham Road, where the agency envisioned changing the existing curbside bus lane to an offset bus lane to free it from double-parkers.
But because that work was never done, that culprit remains: drivers who constantly park in or drive in the the curbside bus lane, forcing bus drivers to pull into or just drive in general traffic.
After the mayor scuttled the offset bus lane idea, the DOT said that the NYPD would do "heightened" enforcement of blocked bus lanes, but that enforcement has been inconsistent according to data on how many tickets officers have given out, and has clearly not sent the message to drivers to stay out of the red paint.
The NYPD did do some ticket blitzes in 2023 and 2024. From Sept. 22 until the end of that month, officers gave out 537 "No Standing" tickets for blocking a bus lane or bus stop. In October 2023, the NYPD issued 710 tickets of those tickets, and officers gave out 588 of the tickets in June 2024. But between December 2023 and May 2024, the agency averaged only 160 bus lane tickets per month.
That's about the same rate of tickets the NYPD was giving out in the same period before the alleged crackdown began, when the NYPD averaged 148 "No Standing" tickets for parking in the bus lane or bus stop per month between September 2022 and June 2023. Last year's average is also dragged down by the fact that the NYPD gave out just 89 bus lane violation tickets in September 2022.
The DOT's failure on Fordham Road defies the roadway's history as one of the city's early 21st century bus success stories: When the curbside lane was installed — and the Bx12 turned into the first Select Bus Service line — in 2008, bus speeds jumped as high as 9 miles per hour and ridership went up by 15 percent.
But speeds and ridership on the corridor have deteriorated since 2014, which is why the DOT wanted to create the offset bus lane that the mayor killed — despite his own agency predicting that the offset lane could increase bus speeds by as much as 20 percent.
Instead, the mayor chose to listen to powerful business and cultural interests in the area, like the Belmont Business Improvement District, the Bronx Zoo and Fordham University, who lobbied against the offset bus lane on behalf of their customers who drive from outside of the neighborhood.
Meanwhile, bus riders in the neighborhood have been feeling the pain because of that decision.
"I feel like that would have been turned out better," Subul Sadiq, who was waiting for the bus with her father, said about an offset bus lane. "Because with the traffic and everything, it's insane."
Offset lanes have been a proven way to speed up buses. And the DOT had no problem installing them in other locations such as Second Avenue in Manhattan. Without better bus lanes, buses get bogged down, bunch up (a phenomenon when multiple buses show up to the same stop at once), and are intensely crowded.
That kind of miserable experience leads to more than just a crappy bus ride here and there. People make actual changes in their lives to avoid getting stuck on a bus that's stuck in traffic.
"My brother frequently takes the bus across Fordham Road going to and from work, and he finds it extremely stressful," said Bronx resident Daquane Mays. "He switched his work hours to nights, just to move a bit faster."
The DOT is reportedly going to brief elected officials soon on the full results of last year's decision to ditch the bus lane upgrades Fordham Road. Council Member Oswald Feliz, who represents part of Fordham Road, opposed the offset bus lane, while Council Member Pierina Sanchez, who represents a different chunk of the road, supported the upgrade.
Both Council members declined to comment on the existing conditions on Fordham Road, but riders say they're still hoping that Mayor Adams comes to his senses and does something about the situation.
"I'm hoping that Mayor Adams and the DOT take a second look at what's going on on Fordham Road and really take the initiative to make changes there. I think it'll definitely be beneficial to thousands of people in that area that take the bus every day, who rely on the bus to get to work," said Mays.
