After months of complaints, a PSD reversal makes riding RIOC Red Buses and the Roosevelt Island Tram safer. Maskless Passengers are now rare, not routine.
By David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Spot checks and reports from readers highlight a PSD reversal, enforcing common sense rules requiring face masks on public transit.
The requirement is so simple and undemanding, months of neglect in enforcement, putting hundreds, if not thousands, at unnecessary risk as the Delta variant swelled across New York, remain inexplicable.
But now, also, finished.
A PSD Reversal
Red Bus passengers are not forced into sharing rides with selfish bastards without masks or walking. And boarding the Tram, as we saw yesterday, violators can expect a waiting PSD officer with required face masks in hand.
Tram cabin operators had already stepped up announcements about masks, but PSD availability helped keep things under control.
Observing this was significant for us. It came after watching NYPD officers without masks ignoring subway riders also evading the safety requirements. When the cops protecting us join the offenders, everyone loses.
But happily, RIOC’s Public Safety Department does not now fall into that gap, and Roosevelt Islanders should be grateful.
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The Line That Didn’t Land
I stood in the back of Good Shepherd Chapel on the evening of April 15, 2026, at the Steam Plant Demolition Town Hall, watching people adjust scarves and jackets before the meeting began. Benjamin Jones, President and CEO of RIOC, thanked us for attending and, without a pause, said he was “pleased to host tonight’s town hall on the city’s demolition of its steam plant.” The demolition, in other words, was not up for discussion.
