181st Street Busway Hours To Be Cut, Program Made Permanent: DOT

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A little under a year and a half after the 181st Street busway launched in Washington Heights, the city is changing its hours and making the pilot program permanent.

The busway's hours will change from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. — to 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. — DOT reps told uptown Community Board 12 at the end of June, citing community feedback.

The city will also move to make the busway permanent, which is a half-mile lane that gives bus and truck priority to 181st Street between Broadway and Amsterdam going eastbound, and Amsterdam to Wadsworth going westbound.

All other cars, taxis, and vans that do enter the busway must make the next available right turn off the lane.

The DOT, Washington Heights Business Improvement District, and staff from Council Member Carmen De La Rosa's office also went door to door in May 2022 to ask businesses about any concerns relating to the new busway.
Key concerns included:

• People confused about busway regulations and tickets
• Quality of life issues in the evening
• Parking Availability
• Commercial loading hours not matching the time deliveries are actually made

Ongoing work related to these issues will include adjusting the curb regulation on the southwest corner of 181st Street and Audubon, as well as changing the commercial loading hours to the afternoon to allow for more morning parking, DOT reps said.

On the subject of parking, the city will work with Con Edison to explore an alternative to on-street storage of materials in order to free up more spaces for cars.

These changes are not yet finalized.

In a bus rider survey conducted by the DOT, 57 percent of uptown commuters said that the bus service felt more frequent and 60 percent said it felt faster.

The average bus speed for all routes using the busway increased throughout the day, according to the DOT.

There were speed improvements up to 32 percent during the morning and evening rush hour peaks.

You can check out the full presentation made to Community Board 12 — here.

Read More:

• Special Busway On 181st Street Coming To Wash Heights in April
• 181st Street Busway To Launch In Washington Heights On Monday
• Mayor Rides Bus Down New 181st Street Lane In The Heights
• DOT To Begin Issuing Fines To Cars In The 181st Street Busway