Roosevelt Island Red Bus, Parking, Bikes Subject Of RIOC Operations Committee Meeting Today - Bike Sharing Coming To Manhattan Roosevelt Island Tram Station - What Do You Want To See From Transportation Department?

Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Transportation Dep't Mission Statement

Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Operations Committee is meeting later today to continue their discussion of transportation issues. According to RIOC:

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that a meeting of the Operations Advisory Committee of the RIOC Board of Directors will be held on Thursday, June 7, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. at the RIOC administrative office, 591 Main Street, Roosevelt Island, New York.

The Committee will meet to discuss:
1. Parking issues on Roosevelt Island:
a. Bike parking
b. On-street parking
2. Issues related to Red Bus
3. Issues related to NextBus information system
4. Any other Committee business that may be brought before the Committee 

Roosevelt Island resident Mark Lyon shares these thoughts on Roosevelt Island transportation issues:

The next operations meeting is intended to cover bike and red bus issues. I hope that the Corporation will work with Alta Bike Share to get stations on the island (and that they take down the "no overnight bike parking" signs for private bikes).  Being able to take a bike from Motorgate to the Subway/Tram and back at the ends of my commute, instead of waiting for the Red Bus, would be awesome. I'm certain others would enjoy it as well.

While thinking about the Red Bus, though, I'm shocked by the silliness of paying my quarter each way. I often see people board and not pay (not just students), completely unchallenged, which makes me feel like a fool for ponying up my change each way. According to the budget, the fares will be going up this year to help recoup some of the $1,068,960 expected subsidy.  It appears that the Red Bus will cost $1,554,960 to operate in the 12-13FY.

Wouldn't it be easier and more effective to pass that cost along as an assessment for each residential unit?  I can't find anything on RIOC's site that gives an accurate count of residential units, but the USPS EDDM system shows 4,992 residential mail locations in 10044. That's around $312/year/unit.  Less than a dollar a day per apartment. Not a bad deal at all.  With a bit of balancing, the impact on low-income tenants could be reduced without having a significant impact on other apartments.  The bus would be faster, since it could operate like the MTA's Select Bus Service where people can board from any door, having already prepaid.

Below is an excerpt of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Transportation Department presentation to the RIOC May 21 Operations Committee.



More on the Transportation Department presentation at earlier post.

Here are photos of slides from RIOC Transportation Department presentation to May 21 RIOC Operations Committee meeting (RIOC would not provide a copy of the presentation unless I filed a Freedom Of Information Law Request).

Also learned at last night's Roosevelt Island Residents Association Meeting (RIRA) that there will be a bike sharing station at the Manhattan Roosevelt Island Tram Station at the start of the program. More info on bike sharing here.

UPDATE 6/8 - The Operations Committee agreed to keep the current Red Bus route extending to Southpoint Park without any modification at the present time. They will monitor the situation, gather metrics on how the new schedule is working and then reevaluate in a few months (3-6) to determine whether any changes are needed.

The Operations Committee agreed that bike racks should not be used for overnight storage and that bikes will be removed from the racks if they are there over a certain amount of time that is still to be established. Consideration will be given to those who work late night hours and use the bike racks. Overnight bike storage will be established by RIOC underneath the Motorgate Helix.

Here's the audio web cast of the meeting.