With a Queens-bound F Train detour scheduled, RIOC proactively set up shuttle services. But as usual, it’s a weak response that fails for Roosevelt Islanders. The tourist crush on the Tram escalates during the summer’s first holiday weekend, and neither state agency notices nor cares enough to act appropriately.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
MTA’s F Train Detour for the Holiday Weekend
Jamaica-bound F runs via the E from W 4 St-Wash Sq, Manhattan to Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av, Queens
- May 26 – 30, Fri 11:45 PM to Tue 5:00 AM (includes Memorial Day)
No Jamaica-bound F at 14 St, 23 St, 34 St-Herald Sq, 42 St-Bryant Pk, 47-50 Sts-Rockefeller Ctr, 57 St,
Lexington Av/63 St, Roosevelt Island and 21 St-Queensbridge.
Put simply, no F Trains from Manhattan for the entire holiday weekend.
The MTA adds this advice: “For service to Roosevelt Island and 21 St-Queensbridge, take the F to Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av and transfer to a Manhattan-bound F.”
This essentially isolates many Roosevelt Islanders, especially older adults and physically challenged indivituals.
Which State Agency Exercises the Worst Judgement?
Tough call. The MTA is a heartless lump of tangled services that already steals $100K a month from Roosevelt Island by refusing to negotiate an OMNY deal.
But at least, they pitch an alternative. What’s RIOC got?
“To help accommodate Roosevelt Island residents who are returning from Manhattan, RIOC’s Transportation Department will be providing a Shuttle Bus to and from Manhattan from Saturday, May 27 – Monday, May 29, 2023.”
Sounds nice, right? Sure does until you digest the details.
RIOC’s advisory continues: “The Roosevelt Island Shuttle Bus to Manhattan will start at 3:00 PM.”
Sweet, and the last one departs at 7:00. Before or after, you can fend for yourself.
Why RIOC Is The Worst
What makes this so galling for Roosevelt Islanders is that RIOC isn’t really doing anything more than taking a single bus out of Main Street circulation, sending it instead back and forth across the East River.
With viable options available, why doesn’t RIOC at least try a different approach?
If anyone from the RIOC Brain Trust (Hochul/Haynes Executive Team) was anywhere in the vicinity on weekends, they’d see that smaller, quicker shuttles run to and from Roosevelt Island from 10:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. The Octagon figured this out years ago.
“I’m having a Charlie Brown moment — Good Grief!” a reader responds
“Is Lucy in charge over there?”
And during weekdays, shuttles for hire run routine schedules taking Southtown professionals over to work in the network of hospitals and research facilities in Manhattan.
It doesn’t take a genius, as they say. But it does take caring and getting off your ass and doing a little work.
