“It’s the most magical mode of public transit in the city,” writes Things To Do Editor Rossilynne Skena Culgan. But her Timeout piece is mostly puff and illusion. Who pushed her on this story?
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
If you follow New York media, Timeout gradually emerges as one long ad campaign. Special interests are pushed ahead of factually balanced news. Locally, the annual “Rainbow Pool” bit has us scratching your heads over why it gets so much coverage.
Yet, it’s a given. The last thing Roosevelt Island needs is one more slanted article extolling the glories of the Tram. Nothing new rolls out of the paragraphs. Pushing more visitors on lacks appeal. It also pushes more residents off. This has all the charm of gum stuck under a subway seat.
No one gains by it. Traffic is at a tolerable maximum now. Maybe there’s another motive… The article’s title might give you a hint.
Timeout: Here’s what it’s like to go behind the scenes of the Roosevelt Island Tram
This year, the Roosevelt Island Aerial Tramway is poised to see nearly three million riders—the most it’s ever seen and a figure that makes it the busiest aerial tramway on the planet. So I asked for a behind-the-scenes tour to dig into the hype, learn how the tram works and meet the people who keep the tram running day after day.
Rossilynne Skena Culgan
Passengers fill up the platform waiting for the next cabin over the weekend. Tourist backpacks promise to bump you around.
Tellingly, the article barely mentions RIOC and doesn’t say a single word about Roosevelt Island. It’s a Leitner-POMA puff piece, apparently designed for polishing a tarnished image. “Staff,” the author writes, “bring together their skills in electrical work, mechanics, plumbing, information technology and automation to keep the tram running in tip-top shape.”
Uhm, we’d add. No, they don’t. The operation designed, built and operated by POMA is hardly in “tip-top shape.” Random braking and swinging incidents forced POMA to slow the Tram cabins down to a snail’s pace. The hope is that slowing speeds will reduce the risk of injuries. That risk, in turn, arose because the operators can’t fix the problem. It has a downstream effect of delays while reducing badly needed revenue for RIOC.
For over a year, cabins braked precipitously and swung on the cables. Leitner-POMA has no answers.
While the Timeout article never mentions the ongoing Tram safety issues, it says this: “The tram covers a distance of 3,140 feet at a speed of up to 17 miles per hour in less than three minutes, per RIOC figures.”
Clipped word for word from a RIOC webpage, it has the added distinction of being untrue. Under current restrictions, cabins take over six minutes gliding across. Suspiciously good for tourists with cameras recording it for the millionth time. Not so hot for those of us using it for commutes and appointments.
Enough said, but then, there’s this…
“It’s one of the only systems like this on the East Coast and among few in the United States,” Culgan writes, “so it’s not surprising that its components were made in Italy, Switzerland and Austria.”
Our last word: WHAT?
I Take the Tram Because I Have To
There are people on this Island you learn to recognize long before you ever learn their names. Like the real estate man with the blue goatee, the one whose name I keep forgetting, though I could pick him out of a lineup any time of day.
