According to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC):
Dear Roosevelt Island Community:
Our Tram operator, Leitner-Poma, will soon begin making necessary upgrades to the Tram’s onboard communication system. This work will require us to run only one Tram cabin for several weeks, beginning Monday June 16th. This work will be done in two phases to ensure one cabin always remains in operation. A full schedule of phase 1 of the work can be found below. Should any of the work be completed early, we will be sure to return a second cabin into service as soon as possible:
Phase 1: Monday, June 16 – Tuesday, July 1st – 1 Cabin in Operation
- During the first phase of this work, the South Cabin will remain in operation, while the North cabin is taken offline for system upgrades.
Break: Wednesday, July 2nd – Sunday, July 6th – Both Cabins in Operation
- After the completion of Phase 1, we will take a brief multi-day break to ensure both cabins are in operation during the busy holiday weekend.
Phase 2 of the work will begin shortly thereafter. A full schedule for that multi-week work will be announced soon.
We expect this upgrade of the communications system will resolve the issues that have caused periodic swaying incidents. While this work is taking place, we strongly encourage riders to consider utilizing other modes of off-island travel:
F train: RIOC has checked with the MTA to ensure there is no scheduled work or outages planned for F train service while this necessary work on the Tram is performed.
NYC Ferry: The Astoria line of the NYC Ferry serves Roosevelt Island and is a great way to travel to Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn especially during the warmer summer months. If you haven’t tried the Ferry, now is a great time!
Q102 Bus: The Q102 Bus serving Roosevelt Island takes island travelers into Queens, where they can connect to different subway and bus lines for fast travel. This includes the Q32, Q60, and Q101 to or from Manhattan.
As always, before using the Tram we encourage you to visit our online Tram station livestream cameras to check conditions at the stations to help make informed travel decisions.
We understand this process will inconvenience travelers and we apologize for the disruption. We thank you in advance for your cooperation and understanding while this work is taking place.
-Team RIOC
More on the swinging Roosevelt Island Tram cabin problem from March 1, 2025 story.
This would be a good time for RIOC to experiment with a resident/worker priority boarding preference on the Roosevelt Island Tram as described in yesterday’s story and by NYC Council Member Julie Menin during the June 8 Reclaiming The Tram Rally.