This "shortcut" should be closed.

The solution: Discourage the low-value uses and let the high-value uses dominate.

Louis, thanks for the info about the bus terminal. If that's true, then the solution is through-running: have some of the MTA buses turn around in Fort Lee or further west, and have some of the NJ buses turn around in the Bronx, freeing up slots.

lack of enforcement also is another huge contributor to the problem, but it's not just double-parked cars on 181; it's also the complete absence of traffic control at the GWB, esp during rush hour. seems odd, given that there are more cars crossing the GWB than any other bridge/tunnel into/out-of manhattan, and yet they all have TEAs (traffic enforcement agents). i wonder why that is...?

As for the rest of 181st... it's a complete nightmare. Loading zones would probably help. The car service cars are the worst for double parking.

Control over street vendors and double parking would be the BIGGEST help of all east of Broadway. Right now, I never go on 181st east or Broadway because I can't get anywhere in a car--even on foot it's tough!

Is there enough room in the middle of 181st Street for a busway - with boarding areas? I like busways, but I don't know what you'd have to do to fit one into that street. Bus bulbs would be a big help, though.

I've come to the conclusion that a busway along the middle of 181st would be the best thing; it would speed up the buses and keep them from blocking the box because the curbside bus stops are full of illegally standing vehicles.

Compounding the problem, Bennett has no signals or stop-signs between Broadway (@ Hillside/Nagel Aves, roughly where 194th would be) and 187th. Many drivers speed up this stretch of Bennett to avoid the lights (and double parking, etc.) on Broadway, leading to many near collisions.

These factors lead me to think that Bennett would be an excellent candidate for a traffic calming / livable streets initiative. Bennett is an almost exclusively residential street with no value as a thoroughfare, as Broadway is right adjacent. Furthermore, portions of Bennett are already closed to through traffic during potions of the school day to allow students from two religious schools to play. A dutch-style shared street would be perfect here!

181 is very much a free-for-all. No look u-turns, double parking, driving in the opposite lane, double parking in the bicycle lane on Ft Washington, car service cars parked at fire hydrants. There's no turn over of parking anywhere in the neighborhood.

The newly reopened entrance to the Henry Hudson is not great. Northbound cars are often in the southbound lane (which I use), exacerbated by double parked vehicles in front of the buildings on Riverside Dr.

Here are some thoughts:

the buses: the buses are a real pain mostly because they have to turn around on what are very crowded streets. Pedestrians stream across during greens, buses cant turn and then block travel lanes, especially as they often try to turn right from the left lane due to double parking. Fixing this will depend on changing the bus routes, bus timing, light timing (dedicated time for cars and dedicated time for peds -- like that will ever work in NYC, right), turn lanes (streets are not wide enough), etc. Routewise, a solution may be to have the buses use the GWB bus terminal and make no street stops at all till the Bronx. Alternatively, terminate at Amsterdam and dont come as far as Broadway.

parking: parking is pretty bad in the neighborhood, but this is moreso at night. Daytime parking restrictions on 181 may make sense. Also, take some spots from the cops, maybe. If this is not gonna happen, at least change the restrictions to have police parking only 7am-7pm. No reason neighborhood residents shouldnt use the spots at night when they are underutilized. Maybe this can be a carrot to removing spots on 181 itself.

double parking, blocking the box: enforce this. ticket like crazy. The whole neighborhood gridlocks near the bridge at times.

I used to take the Bx36 fairly frequently, and it always took twice as long to get across those few blocks of 181st Street as to get from Amsterdam Avenue to the Grand Concourse. I had plenty of time to observe the various causes of delays. The rampant double-parking was the main cause of problems.

At a minimum, dedicated loading zones would be a big improvement. Shoupian market-rate parking fees would make a huge improvement. Bus bulbs would also help. And before you say that we can't charge market parking rates to the poor Dominicans, keep in mind that as in most cases in NYC, the number of parking shoppers was tiny compared to the number who came on foot, by bus and by subway.

If the DOT does remove all parking on the street, they should not devote the space to more cars, but to dedicated, separated busways.

With regard to the idling buses, the main problem is that the GWB Port Authority Bus Terminal only faces west, and there's no integration. There is a large number of buses that go west to New Jersey, and many of them serve similar populations in places like North Bergen and Paterson. Imagine if things weren't so balkanized and the MTA could run through buses from Yankee Stadium to Englewood, from Kingsbridge to Paterson, from West Farms to Hackensack?

My wife works in the Bronx, and at one point we considered living in someplace like Fairview, and she would have taken buses to work. There were two concerns: the unreliability of the MTA-private van connections, and the slog through 181st Street. We're glad we wound up in Queens, but if the DOT can make buses run fast on 181st, they'd have a lot of happy people on their hands.