East Harlem’s busiest crosstown is about to become a full-time bus corridor. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the city plan to roll out 24/7 red-painted bus lanes along East 116th Street this summer, a move pitched as a way to speed trips for tens of thousands of daily riders and crack down on the double-parking that regularly leaves buses crawling and riders stewing at the curb.
New bus lanes on E. 116th
The city’s latest design puts continuous red-painted bus lanes in both directions on East 116th Street between Fifth Avenue and Pleasant Avenue, with a mix of curbside and offset lanes meant to keep buses moving, according to Streetsblog New York City. That report notes the layout was presented to Manhattan Community Board 11 earlier this month and ties the project to the mayor’s broader push to speed bus service across the borough.
Design and safety fixes in the plan
NYC DOT says the redesign will convert 61 parking spaces into pedestrian islands, curb extensions, speed humps and hardened daylighting, while also consolidating some bus stops. The plan includes two queue-jump signals at Madison and Lexington avenues so buses can get a head start at the light. DOT’s presentation also calls for a parking-protected bike lane on Pleasant Avenue between East 116th and East 120th streets, plus new metered parking and truck-loading zones aimed at cutting down on double and triple parking. Installation is scheduled to begin this summer, with the agency pledging to track how the changes perform once they are in place.
Enforcement: cameras and curb changes
On the enforcement side, the MTA has outfitted the M116 and other routes with bus-mounted Automated Camera Enforcement, or ACE, so buses can record and ticket vehicles that block the lane or double-park, the agency reports. City officials are banking on that rolling enforcement, paired with DOT’s new curb-management rules, to keep the red lanes clear instead of turning into another informal parking strip.
Scale and current speeds
According to NYC DOT, more than 65,000 daily bus riders travel this corridor across ten routes, yet buses in some stretches slog along at roughly 4 miles per hour. That translates into hundreds of cumulative hours of delay for riders. Independent analysis by the city’s Independent Budget Office likewise highlights crosstown routes where buses move at something close to walking speed, reinforcing the potential upside of dedicated lanes and stricter enforcement, according to the Independent Budget Office review "Speeding Up Slowly."
Riders react
Riders along 116th Street told Streetsblog that the current situation is a slog, with long waits and block-by-block obstruction from illegally parked cars. “A lot of traffic and a lot of cars parking everywhere,” one rider said, summing up the daily grind. DOT spokesperson Vincent Barone called East 116th “a critical crosstown corridor” where prioritizing buses and people on foot “will mean faster bus service and safer streets,” as reported by Streetsblog New York City.
Timeline and the mayor’s push
DOT expects to start installing the new configuration this summer, then monitor travel times and safety data, tweaking signs, curb regulations and turn restrictions if needed. The 116th Street project is one piece of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s larger “fast buses” agenda, which includes work on Sixth Avenue and 34th Street, as laid out in a recent release from the mayor’s office.
What to watch next
The big questions now are how well the new metered parking and loading zones keep drivers out of the bus lanes, and whether the combo of red paint, redesigned curbs and bus-mounted cameras produces a real bump in bus speeds. Advocates and local businesses will be keeping close tabs on how the loss of curbside parking stacks up against the promise of faster, more reliable service for the thousands of neighborhood riders who rely on 116th Street every day.
