Unchastened by a similar failure in June, RIOC again announces a Tram shutdown without any advance warning. Perhaps they were too busy thanking themselves for the 4th of July. Their belated advisory arrived on Tuesday evening, July 5th, at 8:34 p.m. 7-6-2022 Update: Below find out what else they forgot to tell you.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
About the Tram Shutdown
Update: July 6th, 2022: 2:00 P.M.: We have since discovered that RIOC failed to mention a pair of major changes with this operation. Most important, there are no MetroCard machines on the Roosevelt Island side. And of course, no OMNY cards are accepted. We don’t know about the Manhattan side. Also, the bus stop was moved to the intersection of East and North Loop Roads where MTA buses stop.
During the last shutdown, RIOC belatedly notified residents that operations were reduced to hourly at midday. They never said whether that included weekends or not, and there is no mention at all in the latest “advisory.” As a result, we don’t know, and riders will have to take their chances.
End of Update.
To be fair, there was progress for the beleaguered state agency. Their June advisory came out three days after the work started; so, there are signs of progress, if not genuine, adult competence, under the Haynes regime.
“Please be advised that due to ongoing critical and necessary tram work beginning Wednesday, July 6th, 2022, until approximately Thursday, July 21st, 2022, the North Tram Cabin will be out of service.”
(Editor’s Note: How come “North Tram Cabin” is capitalized, but “tram” work is not in the very same sentence?” Just wondering.)
And the state agency that never gets it wrong stiffs needy Roosevelt Islanders again, refusing demands from City Council Member Julie Menin and others to offer morning shuttles. Disabled, physically challenged and others also get stiffed all weekend, every weekend.
It’s all about RIOC, not the community it allegedly serves.
“To accommodate this disruption, RIOC will be running a shuttle bus Mondays through Fridays from 3PM to 8:30PM, between the Roosevelt Island Tramway and the Tram Station at 60th St and 2nd Ave in Manhattan.”
The refusal further solidifies the perception of RIOC as a special protected class under a political patronage shelter. In spite of numerous scandals and screwups, the Shelton J. Haynes administration can’t be touched under Governor Kathy Hochul any more than it could under Cuomo.
Roosevelt Islanders, with Hochul’s blessing, continue having no say whatsoever in how their tax dollars are wasted paying for RIOC. How much of this nonsense and incompetence, really, are residents expected to accept?
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Ten Years, or Another Temporary Fix?
Roosevelt Island was built through public investment, then expected to support itself through development. The ten-year lease extension gives RIOC a rare chance to replace short-term deals with a financial system designed to outlast the people approving them.
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