Roosevelt Island Red Bus, NYC Q102 and Hospital Bus Route Temporarily Changed During Tram Modernization

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RIOC has decided to change Roosevelt Island Bus routes during the Tram Shutdown. According to RIOC:

Please be advised that RIOC will implement a temporary bus route during the period of the Tram Modernization Project, March 1, 2010 to August 31, 2010. The temporary bus route will only affect the southern portion of Roosevelt Island i.e. around the F Train and Tram Stations. Currently, the RIOC, Coler/Goldwater and Q102 buses travel south on West Drive and then turn east toward the Tram Station. The RIOC bus dwells at the Tram Station, while the Coler/Goldwater and Q102 buses turn right onto East Drive and continue to Goldwater Hospital.

The temporary bus route eliminates south-bound buses on West Drive, as well as the associated bus stops opposite the subway station. Instead, all bus and truck traffic will travel south-bound along East Drive. The RIOC bus will turn west at the fountain and continue to the front of the F Train Station, while the Coler/Goldwater and Q102 buses will turn east at the fountain-continuing south down East Drive toward Goldwater Hospital, and return Northbound as they do now. Please refer to the attached map for further details.

The effective date of the route implementation will be March 1, 2010.

More Roosevelt Island Bus information from RIOC President Steve Shane's 2/25 Report (Item 2B):

... The MTA will continue to operate the Q 102 bus on the Island on its published schedule. Starting in April, there will be a route change to eliminate the alternating loops to Coler and Goldwater for those who would use the Q 102 and its transfer into the Metrocard system. Regular Red Bus service will continue on the Island, but because of the increased construction activity at the Tram site and the elimination of the Tram stop during the outage, all regular Red Bus service will run a continuous loop southbound along the East Drive, stopping at Riverwalk Bar, then looping around to the front of the subway station to resume a northbound run. Those that want to disembark for the subway at Riverwalk Bar may do so; those who want to ride around to the subway may stay on a stop and do so. All southbound buses, including the Octagon Express will make a stop at PS 217 for those wanting to board a bus at the Q102 stop....

RIOC has previously proposed this bus route change, not for Tram related construction reasons but for what are said to be safety reasons. At the January 2010 RIRA meeting:

... RIOC's VP of Operations Fernando Martinez describing a proposed plan to reroute the Roosevelt Island southbound Red Bus to the East Channel (Queens Side) Road when it passes the Blackwell Turnaround in Southtown replacing the current West Channel route. Mr. Martinez explained the reason for this change is due to safety issues caused by a "blind spot" at the current subway Red Bus stop as riders exit the back of the bus and cross the street to the subway station not seeing oncoming northbound traffic....

What did the RIRA members think of the bus rerouting plan?

... Some members favored this new route and others had additional thoughts and suggestions. One suggestion was to keep the existing route but move the current subway bus stop further north to remove the "blind spot" safety problem and/or place a Public Safety officer at the bus stop to direct traffic during rush hours which would also eliminate the "blind spot" issue. Another suggestion was to just ban private cars from using the West Channel during rush hours by directing them to the East Channel road....

So, will this "temporary" East Channel bus route change during the Tram shutdown serve as a test to measure acceptance by Roosevelt Island residents and become the permanent route?