How to Get Around the Bronx Without a Car (Subway, Bus & Beyond)
Listen, I know. It says 22 minutes by car and 56 minutes by transit. That’s the Bronx.
I’ve lived in this borough for two years, and in that time I’ve found myself on Citi Bikes, scooters, buses, and trains to get around without a car. Would it be easier to call a rideshare sometimes? Yeah. Okay, sometimes I do call a rideshare. But the vast majority of the time, I get around car-free.
If the Bronx were its own city, we wouldn’t say the transit is impressive by U.S. standards. We would say it’s good. But let’s not pretend the Bronx is transit paradise, especially given how cut up it is by highways.
So let’s talk about the creative ways the people of the Bronx get around without a car.
A quick note on cost: yes, these all have their costs, but they’re all way cheaper than driving.The average cost of car ownership in the U.S. is $1000/month, and in New York drivers have higher insurance costs due to the high risks of crashes. If you go car-free you’ll end up way ahead.
Let’s get into it.
The Subway and Metro-North Are Your Backbone
We can keep this short because you know about the subway.
The Bronx is served by seven subway lines: the 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, B, and D. That covers a lot of ground, though it doesn’t cover all of it equally. The southern Bronx tends to have much stronger subway access than the eastern and northern parts of the borough.
I think the Metro-North capabilities in the Bronx are underdiscussed. All three lines stop at stations throughout the Bronx. With a City Ticket, it’s $5.25 off-peak and $7.25 at peak times.
If you want to go to the Botanical Garden, take the Metro-North. If you want to get to the Fordham area, take the Metro-North. That’s just two examples. Next time you’re near Wakefield, Woodlawn, Tremont, University Heights, or Riverdale, check the Metro-North schedule before you embark on an hour plus subway and bus excursion.
Buses Fill the Gaps, Up to a Point
The Bronx has an extensive bus network with dozens of Bx routes covering the borough. For reaching places the subway and Metro-North don’t, buses are often the default answer.
However I’ll be honest, I don’t like to take buses in the Bronx because they are frustratingly slow and come at unpredictable times. That’s mostly because of all the cars. The buses get stuck in traffic.
That’s why I prefer these other strategies.
Citi Bike: On Paper It’s the Best Way to Get Around
Bikes are ideal for trips between half a mile and three miles. That cover so many trips in the Bronx. Which is why I say, a bike is on paper the best way to get around the borough, and Citi Bike makes it easy. Here are a few specific Citi Bike strategies that help me get around the Bronx.
[TikTok Embed: riding through the Bronx River Greenway]
Take Classic Bikes To and From Train Stations
I often use Citi Bike to get to and from train stations. If a subway or Metro-North station is far enough apart that walking between them is long, I hop on a quick 5-10 minute Citi bike ride. Since I have a year membership, the classic (non-electric) bikes are included, so I don’t pay extra. This can easily cut ten minutes or more off of a trip time.
I go into much more detail on this and other approaches in my Citi Bike Tips article, but once the logic clicks, you start applying it everywhere. I use it in the city too to get to express train stops and avoid slow local service.
Everything Under Two Miles: Take a Citi Bike
I know that the ebikes are expensive, even with a membership. But anything under two miles, as I default, I’ll take a Citi Bike. In the West Bronx which is mostly covered by Citi Bike, you can get across pretty efficiently (and has fewer hill than north-south).
Why I Say “On Paper”: You Gotta Know The Safer Streets and it Doesn’t Cover the Whole Borough
Some streets have protected bike lanes that make the ride feel mostly like Manhattan.
Others are rough, with heavy traffic, especially truck traffic, and an epidemic of double-parking that means you have to merge into that traffic often.
Before you set out on an unfamiliar route, look at the bike lane situation. For example, I know I can take Willis Avenue in the South Bronx, or the Bronx River Greenway to get over to Bronx Park. Specifically look for protected bike lanes.
For additional safety, I typically recommend non-electric bikes. Nearly every cyclist fatality in NYC has been on an electric bike. Parts of the Bronx are hilly, but even then, a non-electric bike will still beat out time for the buses. For me, it has expanded where I go in the Bronx. A 45-minute transit ride to, say, Arthur Avenue, is 30-minute bike ride.
The second issue is that Citi bike doesn’t cover the whole borough. However, it keeps expanding. As of 2026, the system is moving into neighborhoods like Norwood and Riverdale.
The network doesn’t reach everywhere yet. Citi Bike coverage in the Bronx still has real holes, especially the East Bronx.
E-Scooters and E-Bikes in the East Bronx
If you’re in the eastern part of the borough, you don’t have Citi Bike, but you have Lime and Bird e-scooters and you have Veo e-bikes.
Through NYC DOT’s program, three operators, Bird, Lime, and Veo, run across a roughly 22-square-mile service area that covers neighborhoods like Eastchester, Co-Op City, Throggs Neck, and Soundview. You can even take them into Pelham Bay Park, but not to City Island. These are neighborhoods with lackluster transit and high car ownership, more like other U.S. cities in terms of the built environment.
They’re geofenced, which means you can’t take them outside the East Bronx service area, so they’re not a solution for cross-borough trips.
But within the East Bronx, the same logic applies as with Citi Bike: use them to bridge a bus or subway station that’s farther than you want to walk. The main practical difference is cost. I did that to get around Woodlawn once I took the train up there once.
Scooters tend to run pricier than a Citi Bike trip, but again, if you do it regularly, the membership prices are okay. Still way cheaper than owning a car or taking a rideshare.
The same safety tips apply, although I’d be extra careful on the scooters. Personally, I prefer to take the Veo e-bikes, because bikes are safer.
The Best Non-Member Option: Buy Minutes
If you just get the app and ride, the cost can and will escalate quickly. But on all of them, you can buy “minutes.” As of time of riding, 30 minutes costs $8. That covers just about every ride. That’s what I do whether I want to get Yemini food in Morris Park or head into Pelham Bay Park from the 6 train.
Sometimes You Call a Rideshare
I said it in the intro and I’ll say it again: sometimes I call a rideshare. There’s no shame in it. Living car-free doesn’t mean being a martyr. It means building a life where you don’t need a car as your default, not where you refuse all alternatives at all times.
Sometimes, even the bike + subway + bike 40-minute ride is just not what I want to do. I’ll take the 19-minute rideshare.
For more on the philosophy behind how I approach this, including why I think it’s worth it even in a borough like the Bronx, my article on How I Live Without a Car in the U.S. goes into a lot more depth.
The Bronx Deserves Better, and We Have to Say So
The Bronx is one of the most densely populated and historically disinvested parts of New York City.
The Cross Bronx Expressway, Major Deegan, Bruckner, and more rammed through the borough in the 20th century, displaced tens of thousands of residents and left a legacy of air pollution, highway noise, and neighborhood fragmentation that still shapes daily life here.
You feel it when you try to get somewhere without a car and realize just how many streets were built around the assumption that everyone drives, even though half of Bronx households don’t have a car.
Efforts to improve the situation sometimes run into fierce resistance. Street safety redesigns that take away free street parking and protected bike lane fights in the Bronx are some of the toughest I’ve witnessed anywhere in the city. I understand some of the frustration. But better bike infrastructure serves the people who can’t afford a car and are currently stuck taking slow buses stuck in traffic.
I wrote about what a real transit plan for getting across the Bronx could look like, and it’s worth a read if you want to think bigger about what this borough should have.
If you’re exploring the Bronx by transit and wondering what to do here once you’ve figured out how to get around, my article on 7 Things to Do in the Bronx is a good place to start.
Getting around the Bronx without a car takes more planning than it would in Manhattan.
But two years in, I can tell you it’s more than doable. As I’ve written about elsewhere, on foot and in transit I find is often the best way to discover a place.
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