4 Hours To Get From Manhattan To Roosevelt Island During Weekend F Train Service Disruptions - Still No Announcement By RIOC On Extended Red Bus and Tram Service During F Train Subway Disruptions
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As reported last Friday, there was no F Train service from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island this past weekend nor will there be any for next weekend and that of April 23 - 25 which is Easter Sunday and the last couple of days of Passover.
The Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) announced last Friday that during the disruption of F train service from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island,:
Please note, RIOC will be extending Red Bus and Tram service during the disruption.GJV commented on the post:
Did RIOC ever announce the extended red bus and tram service for the past weekend? I happened to take the tram back to RI on Sunday evening around 7:22PM, and was pleasantly surprised to find that RIOC was running both cabins. However, no signs or web updates on the extended service were posted anywhere as far as I can tell.The answer in no. As of the time of this posting no information has been received from RIOC or posted on their web site regarding how the announced extended Red Bus and Tram service for the previous or future weekends will be implemented when there is no subway service from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island.
How was it getting back to Roosevelt Island this past weekend without F train service from Manhattan? One concerned RI resident reports:
... for most of Saturday there was only one Tram up and running ... RIOC should have known to have BOTH trams running all weekend with the F train out. There were at least over 100 hundred people several time of the day trying to get over to RI before 3:00, they finally started up the North Tram. I wish all of RIOC lived here on the island, they would be more intune with what we need and when....Another tweeted:
Was not able to get back to Roosevelt Island till 6:30 A.M... 4 HOURS AFTER I TRIED LEAVING MANHATTAN!!! >:-(I took the Tram over to Manhattan on Sunday afternoon around 1:30 PM. At that time, the North cabin which I was on had just gone into service. As the North Cabin was passing the South Cabin on my trip I noticed that the South Cabin was very crowded as was the Manhattan Tram Station platform when we docked.
If RIOC intends to provide extended Red Bus and Tram service during the upcoming F Train subway disruptions, they should tell us what the plan is.
Hey, if the Roosevelt Island Sling Shot is not available, anyone for a Zip Line over the East River?
You Tube Video of Zip Line Over the Mendoza River
9 comments :
The RIOC Board and DHCR should be all over Ms. Torres, Mr. Martinez, POMA and anyone else who may be responsible for filling in the gaps when the F train is not running. Shame on us if we do not hammer DHCR, RIOC and the Board for not working with the community -- as has been done in the past, some times very well, some times not so well -- to make sure signs were posted on red buses, at tram stations and in cabins, etc --
BTW -- yesterday, I took an F train from Rockefeller Center to Roosevelt Avenue, switched platforms, and took a M-bound F back and was home in about 40 minutes -- and I lived.
Does nobody remember those times when the MTA did not run an F train in one direction every single weekend for many weeks in a row? How did we survive those times?
I took the tram to get back to RI a couple times last weekend and every single time it was okay - even with stroller and small children in tow. Sure, it was more packed than usual, but it was far from a disaster.
I can't say for nights, though. I can see that once the tram stops running it could turn into a multi-hour affair to get back home (or to work). But while the tram's running - even on its 15 minutes schedule - it's not as bad as many here make it sound like.
When my wife and I returned to Roosevelt Island yesterday afternoon the tram was running when it was flled up(very quickly)
but there was no red bus. We decided to walk to Main St and saw no red buses while walking.
With the old jig-back tram system, it didn't cost RIOC anything (other than the cost of extra electricity) to increase the frequency of tram departures since the tram system required 2 attendants at all times. With the current tram, RIOC would need to pay the additional salary/overtime of an attendant to run the tram more frequently (i.e., RIOC would need to man the 2nd tram cabin). So, although the new tram is saving RIOC tons of salary and benefits due to the need for fewer tram employees, RIOC needs to be ready to pony up some dough when an F train outage causes transportation issues.
Anonymous at 1:41 pm, you certainly took the F train during the day. Try next time to take F train at night and report back. You'll survive but it may take you a few hours to get home on RI. At night, F train runs every 40-80 min, not 20 min as the MTA schedule claims, so you will spend more time waiting for F train than on F train.
I received an Advisory email from RIOC indicating that they were providing extended Tram & Bus service - which they did. You guys should register to receive them. They are quite helpful.
I never waited more than 30 minutes on an F train at night - usually it's between 10 and 20 minutes on average.
It is standard for all trains to run infrequently during off hours or overnight. I took the F train from 42nd St last Sat night at 9pm and counted myself lucky that it only took twice as long to get back to RI. An uptown F actually came along in only 10 minutes or so at "the Deuce" (42nd St) and I only had to wait about 20 minutes or so at Roosevelt Ave for a train going back to Manhattan.
Nonetheless, it is indeed possible that a RI bound rider after midnight would have to wait over 40 minutes for a Queens bound train then ride up to an hour to get to Roosevelt Ave (depending on where they were starting from) then wait again for who knows how long for an F train going back toward Manhattan. The MTA cutbacks have only added to the problem of extended waits during non-rush hours.
At the desolate hours late at night, the money trains, the garbage trains, and the cleaning trains come through, and the regular trains are few and far between.
At these hours too the subway's rat population becomes much more active, and bolder in their relentless search for anything at all to eat. Some riders, bored with experience of waiting, find it amusing to observe the clever rodents scampering about on the tracks, but the rodent "show" can also become all too real as the "4th wall" is breached and the creatures are seen jumping and darting around on platforms seemingly mingling with the "captive audience" of waiting subway riders, sometimes even climbing up the legs of those who succumbed to sleep as they waited for a train! These late night rodent "rodeos" may be seen at any station since NYC's rat population is said to equal or even exceed that of its human inhabitants.
At night too, the trains themselves turn into rolling dormitories for City's homeless population; for these unfortunate New Yorkers, though, an endless subway ride overnight may be a step up from possible rodent attacks on subway platforms.
Tramwise we got what we bargained for but then RIOC decided that it is too expensive to use to its full capacity
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