Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Roosevelt Island Red Bus Accident Near Tram Turnaround Early Saturday Morning - No Passengers At Time But Driver Taken To Hospital With Minor Injuries And Released

According to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) 24 Hour Public Safety Incident Report:

11/15/14 -0143 - 405 Main St. - Vehicle Accident With Injuries - PSD, EMS and NYPD responded, bus driver transported to Hospital.
Image of Fire Hydrant In Front Of 405 Main Street

RIOC Public Safety Department Director Jack McManus adds that the Roosevelt Island Red Bus hit the fire hydrant near the Tram Turnaround at 405 Main Street early Saturday morning. There were no passengers on the bus at the time. The driver suffered minor injuries, was taken to the hospital and released.

13 comments :

AGuyonRI said...

How exactly did this happen? No answer is good- it's either mechanical with the bus, poor driving by the driver, or the hydrant decided to cross the street at the wrong time.

Mickgirl said...

People have minor car accidents all the time. Buses have minor accidents. Everyone needs to stay calm & ride along. The red bus is one of the best parts about Roosevelt Island.

Frank Farance said...

Q: Why Did The Hydrant Cross The Road? A: The road crossed his brother.

YetAnotherRIer said...

I still don't understand why the RIOC decided to go with this rather tight turn-around instead of just having the bus wait on the other side of the street. If this is about safety, i.e. people rushing to cross the street etc., make the street narrower, one-way, and for the red bus only (no other traffic allowed).

CheshireKitty said...

Agree. Traffic is minimal anyway - there are stop signs at the corner; cars must wait for pedestrians/passengers can cross the street to the tram.

Frank Farance said...

YetAnotherRIer: Stopping in front of the tram (rather than across the street) is about safety/etc., which was the rationale for making the west service road northbound-only. Making that transverse road one-way doesn't solve the problem, the bus should pick up the passengers on the same side of the road as they are on (south side at transverse). For the same reasoning, the Gristede's bus turnaround should be restored so they can pick up the passengers where they are at (on the east side at Motorgate).

YetAnotherRIer said...

You can construct a small version of a transit center there. Entirely dedicated to red bus and tram service. You cannot tell me that if the traverse were remodeled to be one-lane and bus-only it would still be a real safety issue.

YetAnotherRIer said...

No, just ban the cars from the traverse. There is no need to keep it open for public traffic. Cars going south can go around south of Sports Park.

CheshireKitty said...

Great idea, Yet!

Frank Farance said...

YetAnotherRIer, unfortunately it doesn't work for trucks. Besides, this was analyzed a while ago: if it is possible to have the bus arrive on the same side as people, that's a safety improvement.

CheshireKitty said...

There must be way trucks are getting to the Cornell construction site, Frank. They must be going down the very path you say is impassible to trucks, no?

YetAnotherRIer said...

And why would we allow trucks down there that cannot make the turns at Sports Park? I doubt they are so frequent that they need all that street real estate the traverse at the tram provides.

CheshireKitty said...

If red buses can make the turn south of Sportspark, so can trucks.