Parking on Roosevelt Island

A reader sends in the following question regarding parking on Roosevelt Island.

I have a friend who is moving to Roosevelt Island and I was wondering, where do visitors park? Like if I had to come over for like 15 mins. at 10PM, is there somewhere I can park my car? Is there even street parking?

There is an indoor parking garage called Motorgate where most cars are parked. Here is information regarding the Motoragate Garage courtesy of RIOC.

Managed by Edison Parking
688 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, N.Y. 10044
Phone#: 212-832-4585

PARKING RATES
Daily up to1 Hour $7.00
up to 2 Hours $9.00
up to 4 Hours $12.00
up to 10 Hours $15.00
up to 24 Hours $20.00
Monthly Residents $180.00
Non-Residents $160.00
Reserved $235.00

The Octagon building has a separate paid parking facility for their tenants but I'm not sure what is available for their guests.The other buildings at Riverwalk, Manhattan Park and the Main Street buildings do not have their own parking facilities but rely on the extremely limited street space in front of the respective building. There is very little sidewalk parking on Roosevelt Island and a 40 minute time limit for a space on Main Street if it can be found. I would recommend calling RIOC directly to find out what they say are the parking rules. RIOC's phone # is 212-832-4582.

A similar question was posed to RIOC's Dear Cathy feature. Here is that exchange.

Dated: Tuesday, 9/26/06
Dear Cathy,

Lots of good info, but no mention of street parking rules. eh? I gather no one on RIOC staff gets parking tickets so you don't care. Gee, I wish my guests were immune to Public Safety's tickets!. (I almost never walk away from my car, rare can I find a real space, though I load and unload on Main Street almost every time I drive off the Island or return).

I need to give a contractor instructions and Motorgate is expensive for a 1 hour visit. I wanted to check the rules for north Main Street between River Road and Motorgate... I vaguely remember street parking is permitted there for 2 hours? (not just the 40? 20? minutes permitted in front of the WIRE buildings where I live.

One of the benefits of "Ask Cathy" is that we learn what kind of information residents are looking for at our website. Parking rules will be posted. Thank you for the suggestion.

Actually, our staff have received parking tickets! Many residents have complained about people parking illegally on Main Street and Public Safety has been diligent about enforcing the parking rules.

There is metered parking (up to 40 minutes) all along Main Street.
There is metered long-term parking (up to 6 hours) at River Road and the northern end of Main Street (near Gristedes to the Fire house).
As you point out, Motorgate is also available for short-term and long-term parking.

I hope this helps.

UPDATE - 12/11/08 - Here is more information on getting to and parking on Roosevelt Island.