RIOC Will Slow Roosevelt Island Tram Cabin Speed And Decrease Hourly Trips Over East River To Reduce Heavy Cabin Swaying Incidents - A Recipe For Disaster, Reduce Tourist Traffic Instead Reply Residents

The Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) announced today:

Dear Roosevelt Island Community:

The Roosevelt Island Tram is the preeminent transportation option for islanders traveling to and from Manhattan. We are proud to have such a unique mode of transportation serving our community and are always looking for ways to improve overall service, safety, and ride quality, particularly for our senior and disabled passengers.

Working in collaboration with our Tram operator, Leitner-POMA, we have decided to implement the following changes to the Tram schedule starting next Monday, October 7th. These changes are designed to create a smoother ride by moderately slowing the cabins, which in turn should reduce jostling and overall instances of heavy cabin swaying:

• Trams will run every 10.5 minutes during morning and evening rush hour, and every 21 minutes during non-rush hour.
• Rush hour service will be extended a half-hour later for mornings (7AM-10:30AM).
• Rush hour service will begin a half-hour earlier for afternoons/evenings (2:30PM-8PM).

By adding extra rush hour service, we hope to provide island travelers with an easier daily commute, particularly students who are returning to the island from school. These adjustments should also help preserve the Tram long-term by reducing stress on components.

We appreciate your continued support as we strive to enhance our Tram service. Your feedback is invaluable, so please feel free to reach out with any thoughts or questions about these changes to info@rioc.ny.gov.

Thank you,

RIOC Transportation

As reported last March 8:

... a disruption in the wi-fi communications system between the Tram Cabin and station is the cause of the sudden Tram stoppage resulting in the cabin swinging back and forth. The cause of the communications disruption has been under investigation for several months but has not yet been found....

Apparently, six months later, the cause has still not been found.

What do Roosevelt Island residents think of the slower Tram speed ride over the East River and longer wait times for the Tram to depart in order to reduce the occasional swinging Tram cabin incidents?

Not surprisingly, residents are not happy and many think the Tram is no longer, as RIOC says, the:

... preeminent transportation option for islanders traveling to and from Manhattan....

Rather than RIOC:

... always looking for ways to improve overall service, safety, and ride quality, particularly for our senior and disabled passengers....

RIOC has instead allowed the Tram to primarily become an overcrowded sightseeing attraction for tourists.

Due to the overcrowding of the Tram with sightseeing tourists, Roosevelt Island older adults and disabled residents cannot access the Tram and many are afraid to ride it. It will be even worse now with the new schedule.

For instance, one long time resident responded to today's RIOC announcement with:

If you can’t dazzle us with brilliance & competence, baffle us with BS & no remedies for folks who are elderly, mobility- or sensory-impaired, and are actual residents who, especially in the mornings, need barrier-free, fully accessible transit from RI to Manhattan.

According to this resident:

Just saw notice that tram will now run more slowly, every 10.5 minutes for peak service (instead of 7.5) and every 21 for off-peak (instead of 15). Not sure how this is going to help with the overcrowding and long line problems. This is a recipe for disaster. Must make tram for resident and island worker commuters only. No tourists!

Another resident:

We’ve been residents riding the Tram since 1977. While we understand that wear and tear and maintenance are issues that need to be managed, the idea of having only 3 trips per hour in non rush hours instead of 4 is unrealistic given the current population and influx of visitors at all times. What might be workable is to give cabin operators discretion to run additional trips if they cannot fit everyone who is waiting. The waiting areas are already too small to handle the crowds and they become dangerous (and unhealthy) when people are jammed together for long periods. And ongoing long lines in bad weather without shelter is going to cause further problems for residents, particularly the elderly.

The NY State Department of Labor has been investigating the sudden Tram stoppage incidents.

According to a Tipster:

It’s from Department of Labor who have been consistently checking on the tram since earlier this year Unfortunately even *if* the mandated schedule change is baseless, I don’t think any amount of community protest will change the DOL’s mind they probably could not care less about any petition we do or anything else of the sort.

RIOC declined to comment if the Department of Labor mandated today's Tram changes.

More comments from Roosevelt Island residents on RIOC's announcement today to slow the speed of the Tram and increase Tram waiting time.

• I’m concerned that that this will lead to longer lines, which in my opinion is worse overall than the risk of swaying.  The longer lines will not dissuade tourists, so it’ll become even worse for residents. Furthermore, if there are any issues with the subway, the tram lines will become even worse than they already are.  Having a residents-only line would alleviate some of these issues 
• The kids start school pretty much all around the same time. I would assume there would not be many kids going to school at 10am. Decreasing the frequency will definitely increase the lines. 
• The tram was not designed for the heavy usage it’s now experiencing. Its current usage rate is asking for a disaster to happen. 
• Ultimately, RIOC needs to decide if they care about the quality of life and freedom of movement of Roosevelt island residents and if so, what they are willing to do about it 
• When RIOC said Sportspark would cost something like $300/month, they got a ton of backlash and lowered the prices substantially. Any hope of forcing a re-think on this tram change? 
• If nothing is done to assist residents and mitigate overcrowding, it’s going to be like the anti-tourist campaigns in Barcelona, Portugal, etc this summer 
• How about reducing tourist transit? 
• Resident priority boarding seems like the bare minimum but resident-only for the duration of reduced service would be sweet 
• Don’t yell at me when I suggest this, but what if we did something like they do for the ferry - charge single trips $4.00 - or more. But you could get a multiple trip pass and then it is $2.90.  Then, tourists would have to think if they wanted to bring 8 people over just to ride both ways 
• Honestly idk if that would be enough of a deterrent. Make it $15 and call it Roosevelt island congregation pricing 
• There is a whole new 430 building yet to open … 900 more residents yay 
• Yep. I have been saying all along that you cannot increase the number of residents without increasing transportation options and capacity accordingly. So there it is. 
• The only reason the Tram is are having such maintenance problems is probably coz they are overloaded. They should focus on that issue rather than changing the schedule and inconveniencing residents. This is so unacceptable to working residents and school kids. 
• I think a shuttle ferry, walking bridge, elevator to the 59th street bridge, etc. are all great ideas but the quickest and most easy to implement immediately is cutting down on tourist overcrowding and unnecessary trips. This is an island where people live and work, not just an amusement park. We’re not Randall’s island or governor’s island and right now it feels like that’s the priority and we’re an afterthought

RIOC had previously installed swing dampeners on the top of each Tram cabin 

as well as new fiber cable to improve wifi communications between the cabin and station but neither has eliminated the incidents of back and forth rocking.

Maybe we should bring back the Roosevelt Island Slingshot

 

which was tested at the Socrates Sculpture Park way back in 2008.

UPDATE 10/3 - Roosevelt Island Manhattan Tram station jam packed again this evening. 

A resident trying to come home tonight reports: 

Two residents on wheelchairs couldn’t get on because of all the tourists

Since these tourists think this is a ride or the running of the bulls and have no respect, at least PSD could tell them to let wheelchairs, seniors and people with young kids and strollers board first

I had to stop some tourists to let a wheelchair and a family with a stroller and kids board

They were complaining at me, but at that point I just didn’t care

Took me 30 minutes to board the tram since I stood on line

I was telling people inside “show some respect, this is not a tourist ride”. They kept complaining in German, but I just don’t care anymore.

Another tourist asked to go in front of us to take pics for the view. We didn’t move. It was a mom with a stroller they were asking

Tourists saying this is horrible. I hope they don’t take the tram anymore, it is crammed, they don’t get any views.

RIOC could not care less about residents even if they tried.