Roosevelt Island Octagon Building Morning Red Bus Rush Hour Express Route Now Making Stop At Good Shepherd Plaza - Adds A Few Minutes For Octagon Residents But Helps Out Mid Island Residents Says RIOC President

A Roosevelt Island Octagon Building resident asked this morning - Where are the Red Buses?

This morning, the bus that I take every single morning from the Octagon never came. Right now, I’m at the tram and the bus that was supposed to leave 5m ago hasn’t even shown up. For the second time in 2 hours, WHERE ARE THE BUSES??????? @RIOCny #RooseveltIsland

— Alessandro Monetti (@AlexMonetti_) February 8, 2019

I asked Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) President Susan Rosenthal if there was a problem with the Red Bus this morning. Ms Rosenthal replied:

There was no problem with the red bus this morning. FYI, RIOC notified Octagon management before we added one stop to the Octagon express.

The new stop is at the Good Shepherd Plaza.

One Octagon resident expressed dissatisfaction with the additional morning Red Bus express stop:

Can you explain how the bus service came to the logic that the express bus service from the Octagon needs to stop at the chapel?...

... The Octagon express bus makes a stop now at the chapel.

The 7:00am local lapped us yesterday.

The bus driver announces that we have to stop there now due to a lack of service mid Island. Obviously there is no luck when the local bus also leaves at 7:00 and now beats the express to the tram.

The bus driver one day announced that there should be a stop at the chapel after a lady stood in front of the bus to get on it.

Ever since then it stops at the chapel....

Ms Rosenthal adds:

... There are 4 local buses and 1 express during morning rush hour. The Octagon express is never totally full when it passes the Chapel, while (before adding the one stop), it was not unusual for there to be insufficient space to accommodate all the passengers waiting for the bus at the Chapel when the local arrived; as a result, the local left passengers at that stop—requiring them to wait for the next bus. By adding the one stop to the express, no one is left behind and the only harm to Octagon residents is an additional 1-2 minutes that it takes to load passengers at the Chapel. We thought in the spirit of being good neighbors, adding the one stop made good sense...

In the past, the Octagon building management paid for the Octagon Red Bus Express as an amenity for its residents. Don't know if that arrangement has been changed with the new Good Shepherd Chapel stop.

According to the RIOC 2019-20 Budget (Page 14)  RIOC receives 125,000 in revenue from Octagon Red Bus morning rush hour express.

UPDATE 2/11 - Ms Rosenthall adds:

In the original ground lease the monthly fee for bus service was $100,000---I think it increases 2% each year. Tenant’s obligation stops if we discontinue bus service. We receive the bus payment so long as we provide bus service “of a similar nature to that provided …to other residents…”

And the Roosevelt Island Twitterverse reacts:

That’s fair-the deli stop is more central. But part of the issue here was also about folks waiting in the cold (MP people wait in foyer); also sometimes the busses get full by the time they arrive at the church & then don’t stop. Many elderly people living in the WIRE buildings.

— Minnehanonck (@minnehanonck) February 10, 2019