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NYC finally moves ahead with 181st Street busway after months of delays
A stretch of 181st Street is set to become largely bus-only starting Monday.
The Washington Heights strip will be restricted for most cars, taxis and vans — with exemptions for local access, trucks, first responders and buses.
The new rules extend from Broadway to Amsterdam Avenue when traveling east on 181st St. and from Amsterdam to Wadsworth Avenue when heading west.
More than 66,000 daily bus riders will benefit from the car ban, according to the Department of Transportation. City researchers have found that bus riders account for 62 to 70 percent of people using the street depending on the time of day.
City officials plan to install automated enforcement cameras along the .5-mile strip in the coming weeks, DOT said.
Busway violators will only receive a warning for the first 60 days the cameras are in effect. The first offense will cost $50 and each successive violation will cost an additional $50, with $250 as the max penalty.
Mayor de Blasio announced the 181st Street overhaul last June alone with four other “urgent” busways for notoriously congested thoroughfares.
But despite Hizzoner’s stated urgency, the rollout has been mired in delays thanks in large part to neighborhood opposition.
One of the proposed busways, on Fifth Avenue, was scaled back to just a bus lane. Another, on Jamaica Avenue in Queens, is stuck on the drawing board and strongly opposed by local elected officials.
Busways have shown to dramatically speed up transit service.
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