Roosevelt Island Tram Shutdown Ready & On Time For March 1 - Final Ride At 2 AM Will There Be A Party?

You Tube Video of Snowy Roosevelt Island Tram Ride

Above video is a view of the Roosevelt Island Tram not seen in the past - from the rooftop of the new Riverwalk Rental building at 405 Main Street and in the snow. Pretty cool!

It looks like some other media outlets are finally picking up the story of the Roosevelt Island Tram shutdown.


In addition to the WPIX video above, both NewYorkology and Gothamist have mentioned the soon to be out of service Roosevelt Island Tram. According to NewYorkology:

Roosevelt Island Tram — famous for its “Spider-Man” movie cameo as well as stranding real-life riders over the East River in 2006 — is on schedule to shut down March 1 through Aug. 31 for a major modernization project.

This past weekend, the Roosevelt Islander blog reported the oft-delayed project is almost ready to begin. The tram is “on schedule for March 1 shutdown,” Roosevelt Island Operating Corporaton President Steve Shane states in a report to island residents reprinted on the blog

Image From Vidiot via Gothamist

Nothing yet from the major print papers, NY Times, Daily News or NY Post.

At yesterday's RIOC Operations Committee Meeting and the RIRA Town Hall Meeting we learned that:

• the final trip for the the current Roosevelt Island Tram will take place at 2 AM (will there be a party like the one at Jackson Hole?) on the morning of March 1 and that one of the cabins will be ready to resume operation by mid to late August and the other in early September.
• the construction plan schedule for the Tram Modernization has been altered slightly. Initially, RIOC and POMA planned working on the Tram Towers on the Roosevelt Island side first, which they say will be easier, in order to gain some experience prior to working on the more difficult Manhattan side towers. That has changed because RIOC was informed by NYC that the Department of Transportation is scheduled to start working May 15 in the same 59th street area on a water tunnel project. POMA will now work on the Manhattan side Towers first so that there is no conflict with DOT's projected May 15 water tunnel start date.
  
• The Manhattan Tram Station booth attendant will be eliminated and replaced with Public Safety Officers at both stations during rush hours as well as 24 hour seven day security cameras.
• The plan is for all of the current Roosevelt Island Tram workers to be asked back but that there will be reductions due to retirements and attrition.
• The Q 102 bus to Queens will now make a single loop around Roosevelt Island instead of the current confusing practice of alternate North and South routes coming from the Roosevelt Island Bridge. RIOC President Steve Shane indicated that there is a possibility the Red Bus Shuttle service to Queens may be eliminated if more people use the Q102 than the Red Bus. The number mentioned was that if only 2 to 4 people are using the Red Bus to Queens then the service could be stopped. RIOC Director Margie Smith said she would not approve of that idea.
• The MTA will provide no additional trains during the tram outage and will continue planned weekend subway work which will eliminate Roosevelt Island subway service in at least one direction at these times.
• Temporary Ferry Service from the oil dock appears unlikely due to cost but will be voted on at today's RIOC Board Meeting.
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital will be running shuttle bus service for it's employees during Tram outage
• RIOC will be filming the Tram Modernization process. Maybe a future movie?
  

On a non- tram outage transportation issue, RIOC and RIRA both agreed to provide information and apply to be a test community for Google's new high speed broadband ISP service mentioned in this earlier post.