The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation’s two-week old revision of Red Bus service will remain in place at least until next week, according to RIOC Vice President for Operations Sari Dickson.  “We have some people who love it because buses are coming more frequently,” she told The WIRE this week.  “Others don’t like it because it’s not tied to a schedule.  That’s what we’re looking into right now.”  Dickson said there could be an announcement next week “about whether there will be any change.”

Dickson’s boss, RIOC President Herbert E. Berman, told his Board of Directors in last week’s meeting that the new plan, in which buses run continuously rather than meeting Tram arrivals and leaving Motorgate on a fixed schedule, was “developed to include the stops at Southtown and to insure that nobody has to wait a half-hour at the subway.”  Before the February 8 change, half the bus trips had traveled north on the new Main Street, leaving subway riders waiting for service.

Berman told the Board, “The new bus pattern was developed with resident Board members and members of the community including [Residents Association President] Matt Katz” and others.  However, Katz and other residents who attended meetings on the bus scheduling have said that decoupling the service from Tram arrivals and fixed Motorgate departure times was never discussed.  Among residents, complaints have centered on waiting times at the Tram station and greater difficulty in timing morning departures to coincide with bus service.

Residents Association President Matthew Katz deals with the service change in his column in this issue of The WIRE (click here).  In addition, this issue features a selection of resident letters on the topic (click here).

Berman told the RIOC Board and residents attending last week’s meeting, “...and folks, if it becomes necessary, we’ll make other changes.”

The problems associated with unscheduled service were first pointed out by Residents Association Common Council member Frank Farance, an engineer who has offered his services to RIOC.  Farance’s concerns, expressed at a RIRA Common Council meeting several days before the new routing was put into place, were reported in the February 7 WIRE.  Dickson says RIOC does not plan to take Farance up on his offer “for now.”

RIOC first revised Red Bus routing in mid-December to provide northbound service to residents of 465 and 475 Main Street, but changed it again two weeks ago in response to complaints about half-hour waits for bus service at the subway station.  The new routing provides southbound service at the Southtown stop, taking all passengers to the Tram station first, then to the subway station.  But few passengers have boarded at the new Southtown stop.  Instead, residents continue to use a makeshift path across the lawn west of the new buildings, jumping one to two feet down a landscape embankment on their way to the subway station.