Sunday, February 20, 2011

Swinging Roosevelt Island Tram On Windy Saturday Scares Some Passengers


Very windy day on Saturday. gcris tweeted:
Roosevelt Island Tram. Nothing scarier than being suspended on 3 wires on windy day above the East River.
Roosevelt Island 360 reports on a message he received from a passenger on Saturday's Tram:
Today's ride (02-19-2011) was HORRIBLE. People were screaming inside. Due to high wind the cabin was swinging terribly. I'll never take the tram during windy days. I was scared to death!
I spoke with a Tram Operator on Sunday who was on duty Saturday. The Operator told me that the Tram handled the high winds fine on Saturday. According to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC), the Tram:
Operates in all weather conditions except for lightning and winds over 50 miles per hour.
I hope your Tram ride was uneventful and that there was no screaming during the journey over the East River.

16 comments :

Anonymous said...

Despite RIOC and POMA's continued comments to the contrary, I think something is not right with the wobble as the Tram passes over the towers.

Anonymous said...

You think or you know? Big difference. That tram ride on windy days sounds like fun... bummer, I missed it.

Anonymous said...

The guy said he thinks - which is all any of us can say unless we're tram engineers. I had an extensive conversation with a tram driver a few days ago about the wobble - I found out why it wobbles at the towers & why nothing can be done about it: The tower tops are not aligned exactly and it would take a complete tram shutdown to remove the tops, of course after taking down the tram cables, to reposition the tower tops properly/exactly. The tram operator either doesn't or can't do this - due to the expense involved, the hassle involved with obtaining the permits etc. The wobble is the result of an error by the tram contractor - the alignment of the new tower tops is not exactly correct.

Anonymous said...

Well that is not right. The tram uses a fixed cable. When it reaches the towers in high winds it adjusts to center itself. During high winds this is more abrupt but hardly as severe as what some are saying in my experience however that is subjective based on what people feel comfortable with. There is no tower defect as stated above and The tram operator is not an engineer. Thats a pretty severe unfounded claim thats not only wrong its misleading. The trams fixed cable allows it to be used in high winds. If high winds are not for you then dont use them during that time but its normal.

Anonymous said...

I just returned home from a ski vacation and the gondola wobbled like a "son of a b*+ch". Our Tram is great compared to what I experienced this past weekend.

Anonymous said...

I am with 11:13pm. I also has a conversation with one of the tram operators and they said that the wobble is due to the tram adjusting itself at the towers. Looks like you ask two people you get two different answers. The wobble doesn't bother me. All I know (after experiencing many other tram like vehicles in my life) our tram is a very comfortable ride. If you are afraid of heights or the tram shaking in high winds the tram is not for you. It has never been a ride for easily-scared people, even before.

Anonymous said...

The tram is made of tin, don't touch doors or you might be swimming.

Anonymous said...

The old trams did not repeat not wobble like this.

Anonymous said...

No it did not. The Wire should do an interview with a POMA official so the reason for the problem can be definitively explained. Or, RIOC should sue POMA for the problem and make them fix it. The other day the tram began vibrating, something the old tram never did. This was with calm weather.

Anonymous said...

I am not sure why this is so hard to understand. The old tram was different technology than the new tram. Things are different. Yes, it's a bit wobbly. But so what? I think we can all live with that if we take into account how much everything else improved. Do we want to get stuck in the air for hours and hours again?

Anonymous said...

RIOC and POMA owe all Tramway users AND the employees a SAFE trip between the stations and towers. Most users are on the Tram because they cannot use the subway, and unlike ski-lifts and other tourist attraction, our Tram is a major source of PUBLIC transit.

In the 28 years I have lived here, Tramway service was slowed down, especially at the towers in extreme wind conditions, AND, in more than a few cases, suspended briefly till Cabin crew deemed it safe. I am a veteran of more than a few episodes of cabins hitting the towers and short stops when wind gusts were over 30 mph.

Our new contractor seems determined to deny seasoned staff and riders any measure of real safety or imagined by continuing to run the cabins at regular speed in high winds and dismissing any commentary, critiques or suggestions as absurd.

The minute someone is injured in a cabin that either makes an emergency stop or hits one of the towers (because there are not enough places to hold on) -- then VP Martinez and POMA chiefs will slow it down or stop for a while.

I have only been back on the Tram a few times since its reopening. I would have never gotten on the Tram this past Saturday, and frankly, would have expected some reduction in service -- ALL IN THE NAME OF PASSENGER AND EMPLOYEE SAFETY.

Anonymous said...

Okay, this is getting crazy here. What exactly is unsafe about the new tram? How is it being operated in an unsafe way? Where is the evidence that the new tram in its current form is not safe for daily commuting? Or that the staff is constantly in danger?

Riding the tram is just like riding the bus or the subway. It shakes, it bumps, you are told to hold on. There is plenty of places to hold on. Or lean on. Or sit on.

Anonymous said...

The tram hasn't been safe ever since the Octagon got an express bus.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ROOSEVELT ISLANDER said...

Comments with cursing will be removed like the one above.

Trevre said...

You cant stop a ferry from rocking, subway from jerking, bus from bouncing, or tram from swinging in the wind. I am all for improving services, but these complaints overstate the problems. Please don't allow the few anonymous comments overrule the silent majority. I have some cheese to go with that wine.