Predictable Big Mess At The Roosevelt Island Manhattan Tram Station Today With No F Train Service From Manhattan And Only 1 Tram Cabin Working - 2 Hour Waiting Time For Residents To Get Home, Silence From RIOC

Reported last Friday:

Roosevelt Island Transportation Could Be A Huge Mess This Weekend, Planned F Train Subway Service Disruptions And Only 1 Tram Cabin In Service - Be Prepared For Long Lines, No Response From RIOC To Community Concern.

Guess what happened today?

The Roosevelt Island Manhattan Tram station was jam packed with long lines stretching down Second Avenue to 59th Street.

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Shame on @MTA and @RIOCny for making travel onto/from Roosevelt Island this weekend nearly impossible for residents. Talk to each other for goodness sakes instead of leaving residents waiting hours to get home. It's not difficult. DO BETTER.

— Ally Doyle (@Musicislove962) July 17, 2022

I've been receiving photos and messages all day from angry and frustrated Roosevelt Island residents waiting on these long Tram lines at the Manhattan Station including:

• Longtime island resident here. Currently smushed on the Manhattan side having to let multiple trams go due to crowds. Between the heat and covid, this situation is extremely unhealthy and unsustainabl - curious if there is some sort of petition or something going around to get the red bus Manhattan shuttle service to operate on weekends while there is only one cabin running on the tram.
• Current situation at the tram… At least 2 hour long lines … this whole weekend has been absolutely horrible for RI residents. And I’m sure that half of the people (if not more) waiting in that line were tourists. I understand that the tram is good for RI local tourism, but there should be something done for residents during mess like this one. I gave up waiting. Ubered…

Another resident waiting on the long Tram Line wrote:

Saw your video long lines. But also those lines are for people just to buy a metro card and the incompetent security won’t let you in even if you have your metro card. They want you stay in the same line. I just had the most stupid discussion with 2 of them and they won’t let you go because they say you have to be on line to buy a metro card as other ones. Even though I have my metro card already and I don’t have to buy any and I am a resident. What a shitshow

And comments from Roosevelt Islander Instagram Page: 

• There should really be resident-priority access. At least during certain days/times
• There needs to be a line for residents and a line for visitors. We should get RI residents cards.
• Absurd… they need red bus shuttles like they did during the week
• Public Safety could barely handle the rush and they certainly didn’t care about Masks!!!
• I had no choice but to take the tram when the F train wasn’t servicing 63rd and lex. Thankfully I had both my kids and the stroller so PSD let me go up the elevator without waiting. Otherwise would have been ridiculous

This mess was all so predictable but no action or communication from the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) or RIOC President Shelton Haynes.