There was a day when the Red Bus was free.

The notion was that folks who live here should get a single-price complete transportation solution. Just as the subway system is a one-fare-fits-all system in which distance is irrelevant in pricing, the Red Bus was distance-neutral, its costs folded into the Tram budget.

That changed when RIOC was looking to charge residents for anything and everything in an effort to make the Island "self-sufficient" well ahead of targets envisioned in the early planning for a residential development here, and started charging for the bus.

The charge is responsible for more than out-of-pocket costs for riders. There’s delay, too. Passengers often fumble at the entrance, looking for coins. Money sometimes drops to the floor. Visitors are rarely prepared.

With no charge, passengers could board and exit through both front and back doors, decreasing time spent loading and unloading. Back-door boarding would make better use of space and decrease the delays involved in getting passengers to move toward the rear.

The Red Bus will never produce a profit. RIOC figures show it loses over a million dollars a year ($400,000 assigned to administrative overhead). The revenue of $300,000 is almost a throwaway in the RIOC budget.

The WIRE believes that Octagon residents should have the same economics in accessing the Tram and subway as do Riverwalk residents. It’s all one Island. Like New Yorkers who ride free on the Staten Island Ferry as a way of making Staten Island equal among the boroughs of New York, Red Bus riders here should ride free as a way of making all the Island’s buildings transportation-equal. There’s still the time penalty for living at a distance from transit access; there’s no reason why there should also be a financial penalty.

When then City Council Speaker Gifford Miller made the deals that made the Tram part of a One City, One Fare approach to transportation, the once-extra cost of a Tram ride was largely wiped out as a penalty charge for living on Roosevelt Island; transfers to subways and buses became free.

That leaves the Red Bus fare as the one remaining cost penalty for opting to live here. RIOC should do away with that fare, the annoyance it represents, and the delay it causes, and speed Islanders on their way.

It’s also time that Red Bus service get a truly professional revamping to end the uneven rush-hour loading and the stranding of waiting passengers, both of which have become so common. With weather this cold, it’s no good that warm Red Buses are leaving people – especially little kids and the elderly – standing, watching rides go by.

RIOC should get some professional help in reforming the way the Red Buses are scheduled and managed hour by hour.

It doesn’t end there. Southtown is growing, and we still have no answers on how a greatly increased commuting population will cope. Even worse, there’s no indication that anybody at RIOC is working with the MTA on plans to increase rush-hour capacity.

DL