DeKalb and Lafayette Are Getting Bus Lanes. Cumberland Street Decides Which Rules Apply.

Stand at DeKalb Avenue and Cumberland Street and look both ways. To the west, along Fort Greene Park, NYC DOT's plan puts a bus lane on the avenue that runs around the clock, and the curb stays a parking lane. To the east, the curb lane itself becomes a bus lane from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, then goes back to parking at night and on weekends.

The project is called the DeKalb and Lafayette Aves Bus and Safety Project. DOT presented it to Community Board 2's Transportation Committee on September 3 and to Community Board 3 on September 8, 2026, and both decks list installation for fall 2026. The plan covers DeKalb from Flatbush Avenue to Broadway and Lafayette from Fulton Street to Broadway. Two clocks govern the curb in Fort Greene, and which one applies changes partway down each avenue.

The segments, west to east

DOT's CB2 presentation splits the Fort Greene stretch into separate designs. Here they are, block by block:

So each avenue has its own switch point. On DeKalb it's Cumberland Street. On Lafayette it's Adelphi Street. West of those streets the curb stays as it is. East of them, the curb lane changes use with the time of day.

Along the park, the bus lane never closes

On DeKalb between Flatbush and Cumberland, DOT proposes an offset bus lane. It runs one lane out from the curb, with parking between it and the sidewalk. Offset lanes run 24/7. The deck's map key lists this treatment as "curbside parking preserved."

DOT's list of affected streets covers every block on this stretch: Cumberland to South Oxford, then South Portland, South Elliott Place, Fort Greene Place, St. Felix, Ashland Place, Rockwell Place, Hudson Avenue and, last, Flatbush. These are the blocks along the park's north edge and the approach to Flatbush.

The bike lane is where this segment gets complicated. DOT calls for barrier protection "where possible" and notes that some blocks have curb extensions the bike lane will have to route around. If you ride west toward Flatbush, expect the protection to come and go block by block.

East of Cumberland, the curb runs on a weekday schedule

From Cumberland to Malcolm X Boulevard, DOT proposes a part-time curbside bus lane, a general travel lane and a parking-protected bike lane. Lafayette gets the same arrangement from Adelphi to Classon. DOT's deck spells out the rules for these lanes:

All buses, emergency vehicles, Access-A-Ride vans, and vehicles making the next right turn may utilize the bus lanes. Outside of the 7 AM – 7 PM hours of operation, other vehicles may park along the curb. During bus lane hours, vehicles are permitted to stop expeditiously for pick up and drop off activity.

That means a Saturday on these blocks would look much like it does now. A Tuesday at noon would not. DOT says cameras will enforce the lanes. Fixed cameras ticket drivers in the bus lane, and cameras mounted on buses can ticket vehicles parked in the lane, double-parked along the route, or blocking a bus stop.

DOT also says it is studying side streets. Meters and curb rules there would be adjusted to keep access for religious institutions, schools, stores and other uses. The decks don't say which side streets or what the new rules will be. For anyone who parks on a cross street near DeKalb, the side-street changes may matter as much as the avenue itself.

Shops on the avenue sit right in this part of the plan. Million Goods opened its second location at 201 DeKalb Avenue on September 10, combining menswear with a wine bar, a listening room and a garden, as Eater NY reported. Businesses like it that open in the evening fall mostly outside the 7-to-7 window.

Lafayette's middle stretch keeps its parking

Between Fulton Street and Adelphi Street, Lafayette gets no bus lane. DOT proposes a parking lane, one general travel lane and a parking-protected bike lane. West of Fulton, from Ashland Place, the plan keeps two travel lanes and adds a barrier-protected bike lane. If you live on Lafayette between Fulton and Adelphi, the plan changes the bike lane, not your parking.

Why the line falls where it does

The B38 is the reason for the plan. DOT counts 18,000 average daily riders on the route. MTA speed data from October 2025, cited in the deck, shows buses moving slowest where the most riders board, and Vanderbilt is the first of the high-ridership stops it names, ahead of Nostrand and Broadway.

Ridership by hour shows why the curbside lanes cover the whole working day instead of just rush hour. Riders peak at 8 a.m., the afternoon peak runs roughly 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., and midday ridership stays at about half of the peak hour.

DOT has tried this on these streets before. During the G train shutdown in August 2024, temporary bus lanes on the corridor sped buses up by as much as 21%. The cycling changes also build on earlier work. In 2021, DOT retimed the signals on DeKalb and Lafayette to create a "Green Wave" for bikes.

As of today, the schedule is still broad. The decks list installation for fall 2026 with no start date, then monitoring and engagement in winter 2026/2027, then a spring 2027 study of more bus and safety measures as needed. That last step means the layout in the table above may change after people have used it for a season.

The next month on these blocks, by clock

Most of Fort Greene's calendar from Halloween through November happens near these two avenues. Here's how each date lines up with the proposed rules:

1. Saturday, October 31, 2 to 5 p.m. BAM's BAMboo! Halloween family celebration falls on a weekend, so the part-time curbside lanes would be parking.
2. November 4 to 7. Turn. Turning. TURNT. opens the November part of BAM's Next Wave 2026 series.
3. November 6 and 7. BAM's Playback: The Brooklyn Watch Party pairs film screenings with a free street fair. November 6 is a Friday, so daytime visitors on the DeKalb blocks east of Cumberland would be inside the 7-to-7 window.
4. November 11 to 15. adaku, part 2: she shivers with it runs at BAM.
5. Saturday, November 14. The Fort Greene Park Conservancy hosts an America's 250th Anniversary walking tour on the park's Revolutionary War history from 9:30 to 11 a.m., and its annual "Leaf No Trace" leaf-raking volunteer day from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Both are on the park side of DeKalb, where the bus lane runs every day of the week.
6. November 18 to 29. La Distance runs at BAM, and the Einstein on the Beach 50th Anniversary Concert fills November 19 to 21.

The Fort Greene Farmers Market, listed by the Myrtle Avenue Partnership as a year-round market with compost drop-off, sets up at Washington Park and DeKalb Avenue, by the park. Its listed hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more on the neighborhood, see our Fort Greene neighborhood page and our look at how Fort Greene's August differs from its BAM season.

This post summarizes DOT's published proposal and is general information, not legal advice. Posted signs and DOT's final rules decide where and when you can park or stop, so check them for your block.

If you own a home or building on DeKalb or Lafayette and want to talk through how the new curb rules might affect it, Poljan Properties can walk you through it block by block. Start a private consultation.