Roosevelt Island Tram Passengers Stuck In Cabin Over Manhattan Briefly Last Night - FDNY Tram Rescue Drills Today - Why Can't Both Tram Cabins Run During Non Rush Hours Ask RIOC Directors During Operations Committee Meeting
Image From Duc Le (Tram in Picture was not the one stuck yesterday)
Hope you were not one of the unfortunate passengers on the 5:15 PM Roosevelt Island Tram to Manhattan on Tuesday evening. Passengers on the North Cabin leaving Roosevelt Island to Manhattan at about 5:15 PM got stuck between Tower 3 and Manhattan for about 8 minutes. One passenger reports:
North cabin from RI to Manhattan @5:16-ish. Stopped for 8 minutes adjacent to iPad billboard ad. Then we inched our way to Manhattan. Total ride 16 minutes.
Driver immediately radio-ed in. Told everyone to hold on. Did not provide ANY info. I specifically asked him to PLEASE communicate with us. He then said something was wrong with the computer. He did not offer more information.
About 20 passengers, including 5 kids. Everyone was calm and quiet.
Tram began to move very slowly, still no word from operator.
When we arrived, he thanked us, maybe for our patience, do not remember.
{Update 12:55 PM - the text above with the strike thru was not said by the Tram attendant. I was wrong. Rather than delete it, the strike thru indicates that text is withdrawn}Ladies and Gentlemen,
As you can see, the Tram has stopped moving.
I have radio-ed to my supervisor, who is investigating the matter.
At this stage, it appears the computer is not working properly.
As soon as I have additional information, I will share that with you.
For now, thank you for your patience and for remaining quiet and calm.
Another Roosevelt Island resident waiting at the Manhattan Tram Station at the same time adds:
Tram Stuck againand:
This time over 20 minutes. Almost over 2nd
i was on the manhattan platform waiting in the rain to go home. when it finally made it to manhattan, it emptied all passengers and then went back to RI empty while we stood in the rain. the platform was packed, no one else could walk through turnstile. we had to wait for south cabin to arrive and then not everyone could fit in, they were left in the rain. as we approached RI, the north cabin was manhattan bound again with a few people on it. my comment would just be, " please explain why these new trams get stuck so often, because I do not understand"This morning the NY Fire Department is conducting scheduled Tram Rescue Drills so that they are prepared to handle situations in which passengers are stuck on the Tram Cabin and cannot be returned to the Station via the Tram. According to this Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) advisory:
Please be advised the FDNY will be practicing on one Tram cabin on Wednesday, November 30th, from the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.More information on FDNY and NYPD tram rescue drills available at previous posts.
Please note regular Tram service will not be interrupted during this time frame.
During the RIOC Operations Committee meeting held last Monday, RIOC Directors were asking why both Tram Cabins do not run during non rush hours as they do during rush hours. The Directors questioned whether there was a cost increase in running both tram cabins during non rush hour times and if so, what was the increased cost. RIOC staff indicated that they did not have that information but would look into it.
Will have more on this issue.
UPDATE 3 PM - RIOC Public Safety Department Incident Report for 11/29 -30 describes yesterday's disruption is Tram service as:
Minor Tram Service Interruption - A Tram cabin was out of service for a few minutes. It was quickly restored to service.UPDATE 12/2 - From RIOC:
On Wednesday at 5:20pm the North cabin stopped as a result of the Manhattan Station entrance sensor. After investigating the source of the trouble the sensor was reset and the tram brouhgt the passengers back to the station. Once the trip was complete, the North system was fully restored.
