New York City to streamline B38 route in Brooklyn to increase bus speed

Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News on Sep 14, 2026

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NEW YORK — The Mamdani administration is proposing to speed up buses on two key Brooklyn avenues — at the expense of some daytime parking for car owners.

The proposal, part of the administration’s Bus Action Plan, would put bus lanes and protected bike lanes down Lafayette and DeKalb Aves through Fort Greene, Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant in an effort to speed up bus travel on the B38 route by 20%.

“These avenues are critical east-west connections for bus riders and cyclists traveling from Downtown Brooklyn to Bed-Stuy and Bushwick,” Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn said in a statement. “Our proposed comprehensive redesign of DeKalb and Lafayette will speed up buses and improve reliability for 18,000 average daily bus riders on the B38 with new bus lanes while enhancing safety for all road users with new protected bike lanes.”

Under the proposed plan, much of the route would be converted to a curbside bus lane.

Along DeKalb Ave, from Malcolm X Blvd. to Cumberland St., and along Lafayette Ave. from Adelphi St. to Classon Ave., one lane of parking will be removed between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on weekdays in order to accommodate a bus-only lane. The other parking lane will be moved away from the curb, swapped with the existing bike lane, to create a protected bike lane. The avenues will retain their current single lane of vehicular traffic.

The curbside bus lanes would revert to parking lanes overnight and on weekends.

On DeKalb between Cumberland St. and Flatbush Ave., one lane of parking will be removed in favor of a wider, barrier-protected bike lane, and a 24/7 bus lane running offset from the curb.

On Lafayette Ave. between Classon Ave. and Marcy Ave., where no bike lane currently exists, one lane of private vehicular traffic would be removed in order to install a protected bike lane along the north curb. The south curb will host a bus-only lane from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.

From Marcy Ave. to Patchen Ave., a similar arrangement with a larger bike lane would remove all parking for that stretch of Lafayette Ave., except for overnights and weekends.

According to a Department of Transportation analysis, 62% of households living within a quarter mile of the corridor reported not owning a car.

DOT officials will brief the local community on the plan through the end of the month. The department plans to install the road changes before the winter.

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