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The residents of Roosevelt Island are a couple weeks closer to getting their tram back. That is, if they want it. The tram, which had two cars stuck for basically half a day with 68 people in them back in April, was tested yesterday and went well. The tram has been out of service since the April 18th stuckage-suckage, and the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation put $500,000 into upgrading machines and tested evacuation plans. That sounds great - we're assuming that they fixed the backup and the second backup systems, which were both busted.
The NY Times spoke to some of the April 18th passengers who were stuck without food or toilet facilities. Both Wanda Rivera and Lee Anne Siegel said they would not ride the tram again, not even with the knowledge that there would be "a miniature toilet, a bucket with a privacy curtain." Siegel, who was on the tram with her baby daughter, said, “Wow. It’s one of those things you never want to have to use.” Seriously, but if you gotta go... The NY Times also reports that the trams will have enough food, water and blankets for the maximum capacity of the tram - 125 people - and additional cellphones for emergency purposes.
The tram still needs to get the okay from NY State, but this begs the question: Will you be going on board? Gothamist might - as long as we go to the bathroom before and bring some power bars.
Photograph of the tram test from Roosevelt Island by Louis Lanzano/AP
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How long until those cellphones are stolen?
That tram had been working smoothly for, what, forty years? Let's not hold one incident against it; it's a cool and unique thing.
jayKayEss, The tram is definitely cool and unique, but "working smoothly" is a stretch. This was the first time it got stuck for many hours, but definitely not the first time it got stuck or failed to operate. I lived on RI for a year in 2003-4, and it happened several times during that period. It was also shut down for about a month for "maintenance," which clearly didn't do much good. I think the Tram is the coolest (and cheapest) tourist attraction in Manhattan, but reliable it isn't.
Ive lived on Roosevelt Island for 28 years. The tram is extremely more reliable than the subway. Cant wait to have it back!!!!
You could't pay me enough money to get on that thing now.I have never taken the tram before & after waht happend I don't plan to.
Hey, I didn't say the subway was much better. If I still lived on the Island I'd probably take the Tram as often as I did before -- it's only really useful if your destination is the east 50s-60s, but it's a nice change of pace from the F train. However, in both cases the service is spotty, infrequent on weekends, and prone to unannounced shutdowns. You don't have to live on RI very long to figure that out.