Transportation For Roosevelt Island Disabled Just Got A Whole Lot Better - RIDA Announces Purchase Of New Bus To Take Members to Events, Cultural Activities, Shopping & More

The Roosevelt Island Disabled Association (RIDA) has a new bus to transport it's members on trips for shopping, cultural activities and events of all kinds on Roosevelt Island and elsewhere in the NYC area.

RIDA President Wendy Hersh reported last Saturday:

Exciting day today. Long time coming and a lot of hard work...but I am picking up the newer RIDA bus today...newer, cleaner and safe!!!

and later on Saturday:

So HURRAY...we finally got the bus!! We are on our way back to the Island.

Ms Hersh adds today:

The bus is a 2014 with very, very low mileage. It has 10 permanent seats, 3 flip seats and can accommodate up to 3 wheelchairs.

We researched many bus seller companies and this one company on Long Island really worked with me to give us what we needed. And I would be amiss if I did not give a shout out to RIOC (Susan Rosenthal, Cy Opperman and Joe Marino) for all of their assistance in checking out the buses for me and assisting me with finding the most appropriate and cost effective bus.

The old bus had become unsafe and trips and services were severely limited over the holidays. We will continue to use the bus to transport our members for shopping and cultural trips as well as to events. We will also use it to transport disabled members of our community during Island events.

Although our members were a little disappointed over the holidays as our trips were limited due to the poor condition of our old bus, we were still able to provide them with some holiday events on our Island. I promised our members a new bus and as one member said yesterday upon seeing the new bus,"you really kept your promise ". It meant alot to me to be able to make this happen.

Part of our 2019-20 RIOC Public Purpose Funds grant was awarded for this. We also had to redistribute some of our funds that were for other activities in order to be able to afford this since we did not get any other outside assistance. It was a great price for what it is but still more than we expected. We had reached out to some politicians but received no assistance. It may be a little tough getting through until our next grant, but we will continue to provide our members with services.

A RIDA member thanked Ms Hersh for all her hard work to get the new bus.

Thank you Wendy for all you have done to get the van. It's. A beauty and well deserved . May God bless every trip we take.

Here's Ms Hersh describing the programs and services offered by RIDA, including the need for a new bus, to the Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) Puble Purpose Funds Committee last May seeking recommendation for the RIOC Public Purpose Fund grant.



RIDA received $33 Thousand in 2019 RIOC Public Purpose Funds.

Happy Travels RIDA!!!!!