Bx15 and M125 buses

bx15, m125 bx15
Third Avenue/125th Street Line[1]
2 Nova Bus LFS articulated buses in Manhattan on 125th Street: one 2009 (1200) on the BX15 Limited pre-redesign, and one 2012 (5886) on the Hub-bound M125 post-redesign in 2022.
Overview
System	MTA Regional Bus Operations
Operator	Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority
Garage	Kingsbridge Depot (Bx15) Tuskegee Airmen Depot (M125)
Vehicle	Nova Bus LFS articulated New Flyer Xcelsior XD60 (M125 only) New Flyer Xcelsior XE60 (BX15 only) Nova Bus LFS HEV (supplemental service/BX15 rush hour) Nova Bus LFS New Flyer Xcelsior XE40 (BX15 rush hour & supplemental service only) New Flyer Xcelsior XD40 (M125 supplemental service)
Began service	1864 (streetcar line) April 1, 1916 (Bronx-Harlem streetcar) August 5, 1941 (Previously Bx29, and present Bx15 bus service)[2] June 26, 2022 (M125 bus service)
Route
Locale	The Bronx and Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Communities served	Fordham, Belmont, Tremont, Morrisania, Melrose, Mott Haven (Bx15) Mott Haven, East Harlem, Harlem, Manhattanville (M125)
Start	Fordham Plaza, Bronx – Fordham Road (Bx15) The Hub, Bronx – 149th Street (M125)
Via	Third Avenue[3] (Bx15), 125th Street (M125)
End	The Hub, Bronx – 149th Street (Bx15) Manhattanville, Manhattan – 12th Avenue (M125)
Length	4.0 miles (6.4 km) (Bx15) 2.6 miles (4.2 km) (M125)
Other routes	Bx41 Webster Av M60 SBS 125th St/Astoria Bl/LaGuardia Airport M100 B'way/Amsterdam Av M101 3rd/Lexington Avs/125th St/Amsterdam Av
Service
Operates	24 hours
Annual patronage	1,228,559 (Bx15, 2023) 1,508,256 (M125, 2023)[4]
Timetable	Bx15 M125
Route map Fordham Plaza  Bx15  Local stops 189th Street 188th Street 187th Street 183rd Street 182nd Street 180th Street Tremont Avenue Local stops 175th Street Cross Bronx Expressway 174th Street 172nd Street Claremont Parkway St. Pauls Place 169th Street 168th Street 166th Street 163rd Street Local stops 161st Street 158th Street 157th Street Local stops 154th Street 152nd Street Westchester Avenue The Hub – 150th Street  Bx15   M125  ​ 146th Street 144th Street 142nd Street 140th–141st Streets 138th Street Third Avenue ​ Bruckner Boulevard Third & Willis Avenue Bridges 1st Avenue 126th Street 2nd Avenue 3rd Avenue Lexington Avenue ​​ Park Avenue Madison Avenue 5th Avenue Lenox Avenue ​ Powell Boulevard Douglass Boulevard St. Nicholas Avenue ​​​ Amsterdam Avenue Broadway West Harlem – 12th Avenue  M125  Legend Local & Limited stops Local stops  Bx15  Terminal  M125  Terminal  LTD  Limited-stop service ​ Subway connection ← Bx13 ← M116  {{{system_nav}}}  Bx16 → Q1 (Queens) →

The Bx15 and M125 bus routes constitute the Third Avenue/125th Street Line, a public transit line in New York City. The Bx15 runs between Fordham Plaza and the Hub in the Bronx, running primarily along Third Avenue. The M125 runs between the Hub in the Bronx and Manhattanville in Manhattan, running along Willis Avenue in the South Bronx and along 125th Street in Harlem, Manhattan.

Prior to 2022, the corridor was a single bus route, the Bx15. The route is the successor to a streetcar line of the Union Railway Company and later the Third Avenue Railway known as the Willis Avenue Line or Willis Avenue−125th Street Line. The streetcar line, the first street railway in the Bronx, was known as the Harlem Bridge, Morrisania, and Fordham Railroad. The route began operation on Third Avenue in the Bronx in 1864, and the company was incorporated as the Union Railway Company in 1892. The Union Railroad applied in 1904 for extensions of several streetcar lines into Manhattan, including an extension of the Willis Avenue Line across 125th Street. The Willis Avenue Line was ultimately extended in 1916 across the 125th Street Crosstown Line.

The streetcar line was replaced by bus service in 1941; the route was known as the Bx29 prior to 1984. From 1973 to 2013 the Bx15 shared Third Avenue with the Bx55, a limited-stop service which replaced rapid transit service on the Third Avenue Elevated line between the Hub and Williamsbridge. In 2013, the Bx55 was converted into the Bx15 Limited, extending the route south to Manhattan, but eliminating service north of Fordham Plaza. The Bx15 south of the Hub was expected to be split into a new M125 bus route in 2020, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City; the split took place on June 26, 2022.