Roosevelt Island Resident Thanks RIOC Red Bus Driver For Kindness, Courtesy And Being Extremely Helpful To Seniors - But RIOC Continues To Have Problems Keeping The Red Buses In Service On Main Street

Roosevelt Island resident Joan Brooks shares this message she sent to former Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) interim leadership team member Gerrald Ellis complimenting a Red Bus driver. 

According to Ms Brooks:

I need to take a few minutes of your time to send you a quick note about one of your red bus drivers. Matthew (sorry I don’t know his last name)

I typically take the “senior” bus to Costco maybe once or twice a month on Tuesdays.

Matthew is the driver on the 12:30 pick-up. He is always: 

• Kind 
• Courteous 
•  Caring 
•  Makes sure carts are safely stacked 
• All passengers are back on the bus. 
• Extremely helpful 

If you have a “ driver award” certainly Matthew the red bus driver deserves it for all the above reasons.

But there are significant maintenance issues keeping Roosevelt Island Red Buses working on Main Street. As reported July 2:

... Of the 4 Red Buses, 2 buses are currently working on Main Street. 1 Red Bus is out of service and is expected to be back in service this week which will restore Octagon Bus Service. The 4th Bus is out of service for maintenance and no date yet for when it will be fixed. 2 new Red Buses are on order....

Last evening RIOC announced:

Dear Roosevelt Island Community,

We regret to inform you that due to the ongoing maintenance issues affecting our Red Bus fleet, tomorrow morning’s rush hour service will be severely delayed along Main Street, and there will be no Octagon Express service. We will also be shortening the Red Bus route tomorrow morning—the southbound Red Bus will turn right on North Loop Road and not go around Cornell Tech—to help reduce wait times at stops along Main Street.

We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to have these issues resolved as quickly as possible. Please leave yourself extra time for your morning commute.

-RIOC Transportation

Today RIOC added:

Dear Roosevelt Island Community:

Our Transportation Department was able to restore service to a second Red Bus following this morning’s outage. It is back on the road and we expect to have 2 buses running tomorrow morning, with a 15-minute headway between stops on the island. Please note however that Octagon Express service will remain suspended until further notice.

We know this has been difficult, so we appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through these issues.

Thank you.

-RIOC Transportation

RIOC Communications Director Bryant Daniels discussed the Roosevelt Island Red Bus service problems during the July 1 Community Board 8 Roosevelt Island Committee meeting.

More information on the Roosevelt Island Red Bus fleet problems at this June 21 post.