It falls short of everything Roosevelt Island needs right now. But reliable sources tell us a new Glaval 14-Seater bus is arriving before schools open next week. It has room for two wheelchairs. And there are more promising developments coming soon.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
The New bus
“It’s all been bus, bus, bus with us,” our source tells us. The MTA has helped RIOC in efforts at rehabbing existing buses. This followed an appeal to Senator Liz Krueger by way of Roosevelt Islander Audrey Tannen, her chief of staff.
But that’s another story. Here’s what’s happening now:
RIOC’s new addition resembles the Glaval model shown above in use in Santa Clarita, California. On Roosevelt Island, it can do many things, from adding to rush hour capacity to filling in when demand decreases late in the evening.
Acting COO Mary Cunneen and CFO Dhruvika Amin got this deal done on a tight budget with little time. Expectations are that it will arrive later this week and soon go into full service. How and when it will be used is still uncertain.
It’s small but a big move in the right direction.
More Promising Developments
Not as visible but even more promising comes the results of help from Senator Liz Krueger. After catching an appeal from RIOC, she reached out to the MTA and got the agencies working together. It may seem simple, but the sister agencies with much in common have never before had a comfortable working relationship.
Once engaged, MTA staffers quickly aided RIOC’s Transportation Department with tips and access. But they couldn’t fulfill RIOC’s request for a spare bus because none were available. The MTA, though, is a major customer with New Flyer, RIOC’s supplier, and that cut red tape.
Working with the MTA, RIOC hopes to get needed parts for repairs quicker. And the transportation department can only gain from working with the MTA’s more experienced mechanics.
RIOC’s daily goal is getting multiple disabled buses back on the road as soon as practical. That plus the new smaller bus should ease some of the strain on Roosevelt Islanders as summer fades.
The Emergency Was Always Underground
The steam plant and the steam tunnel were never two problems. They were one system. They were only separated later, when separating them made development easier and responsibility harder to pin down.
