“This schedule was obviously devised by people who never ride the Tram,” wrote one resident. The backlash following RIOC’s announcement of a Tram slowdown was swift and clear.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
“It is already impossibly crowded with tourists, and you’ve taken two away every rush hour, and one away every hour in non-rush hours?” Manhattan Park resident A.S. Unterweiser wrote in an email to RIOC.
Unterweiser and others did the math. Slowing down the Tram means a severe cutback in service for an already overused system. Cabin crowding and long lines for boarding are inevitable. It will only get worse as tourists pack into Manhattan for end of the year holidays.
Surprisingly – and annoyingly – this is a fifty year old problem that RIOC knows about and will not fix.
Distant Mirror: Backlash from 1976
Tram Visitors Plaguing Roosevelt Island is a New York Times headline from May 29th, 1976. That was just two weeks after the Tram opened.
Stung by complaints of Roosevelt Island residents over the huge flow of tramway riders that spilled onto their quiet East River complex last weekend, the island’s management is taking steps to control the influx of outsider this weekend. – New York Times, Tram Visitors Plaguing Roosevelt Island.
Sound familiar?
RIOC’s predecessor, The Roosevelt Island Development Corporation had an answer: “Beginning yesterday, residents were issued priority passes for the tram and a minibus that travels from the tramway station through the island’s Main Street.” Wouldn’t it be nice?
Same Old Song
As long as we’re on music themes… Wouldn’t it be nice if that level of support stayed? It didn’t though. There were even times, under CEO Jerome Blue, when RIOC pleaded with the city on behalf of bringing in more tourists.
But RIOC has been tone deaf for a long time. Or, at least, they’re not singing a tune on which the community can harmonize. Our question grows louder: Why does RIOC continue making major decisions affecting residents without talking with anyone outside their box?
Practically begging for a backlash, this decision seems impulsive. It meets the needs of RIOC contractor, Leitner-POMA, and nobody else. Oddly enough, Leitner-POMA caused the cabin braking, swinging and swaying. Failures at ongoing maintenance are gifts that keep on giving.
While blame is currently assigned to a worn out communications system connecting the cabins within the larger system, there’s little assurance that it’s the real answer. The problems go back for over a year. If they’re that simple, why weren’t they fixed months ago? Why didn’t RIOC and Leitner-POMA get serious until Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright sicced the Department of Labor on them?
The Slowdown Impact
The math spiking backlash is simple. During rush hours under normal conditions, cabins lifted off ever 7 1/2 minutes. With Max cabin capacity set at 110 passengers, 8 trips per hour delivers 880 riders each way. The slowdown takes it down to 10.5 minutes – just 5 1/2 trips – per hour carries only 605 passengers when packed in like dead sardines.
Above: Tourists boarding a Roosevelt Island Tram cabin.
The other 175 will string their way around the Tram plaza and along the sidewalks.
Again, we quote A.E. Unterweiser: “This is unconscionable. Between that and the continuing Red Bus situation, you’re basically telling Roosevelt Island residents with impaired mobility to stay in their apartments.”
Roosevelt Island was once known as a refuge for people with disabilities, a pioneer in barrier free design. Not anymore. For many elderly and disabled, it’s approaching a hellhole where they are no longer welcome.
Facing the backlash: Can RIOC do better?
First, let’s do away with the rationale that RIOC can’t legally give preference to Roosevelt Islanders or even people with disabilities when boarding tram cabins. Anyone can, not just spell “hogwash,” but can also use it in a sentence.
The reality is that RIOC really doesn’t want resident preferences because its budget is so badly constructed, it foolishly seeks tourists for balancing the books. Where there’s a will, theres a way…? The will is the missing part of that equation.
That dispensed with, it doesn’t require a genius imagination to consider life on Roosevelt Island without Leitner-POMA. While RIOC faces sag in fear, let’s remember that the contractor is a newcomer here. The company arrived in 2010 with the newly reconstructed Tram operation and all its troubles. Guess who ran the system before Leitner-POMA stomped in?
RIOC!
Von Roll built the first Tram, and with the help of consultants, RIOC ran it. The operators, station manages and engineers were RIOC staff. Sure, there were problems, big ones, but solving them with new problems isn’t ideal. It’s what we have, though.
The Tram has always lost money, and when Governor Whacky Pataki vetoed state subsidies that made operations viable, circa 2000, it lost even more. A recurring scramble, sorta like a virus that blossoms under stress, to turn a Tram profit is a fever dream. Tied by contract to MTA subway fares – talk about a bad marriage – RIOC can’t charge true value for Tram rides, even for tourists who’d eagerly pay more. At $2.90, a Tram ride is the cheapest big thrill in New York City.
- A New Tram Slowdown Straight Ahead. It’s About Safety
- New Painful Animal Deaths and More RIOC Denials
- Governor Hochul’s Rating Falls Below Trump in New York
- Timothy Pearson, Combative Adams Aide, Resigns
Finally
The only real sin here is the failure to do anything, to make any changes in a system fraught with troubles. Inertia is not a sound governing principle.
One reason Leitner-POMA shoves RIOC around like a twit is because it believes, rightly, that RIOC is a weakling helpless without them. The solution, of course, is RIOC flexing some muscle.
That they must build up first, and the juice and training must come from Albany. It may take time, but napping on the status quo is not acceptable. Cutting back accomplishes one big thing: it gets RIOC and Leitner-POMA off the hook by laying failures off on the community.
How long will Roosevelt Islanders let that stand?
Rivercross and the Quiet Green Light
Rivercross privatization was enabled in 2010. This matters now because the same governance structures that allowed Rivercross to privatize without formal conflict controls are still in place. The same public authority oversees land leases, settlements, and redevelopment decisions that affect every resident on Roosevelt Island today.
