The Roosevelt Island Tram is only one of two options to get from the island to Midtown. And right now, residents say it’s not much of an option.

“I do avoid the tram because of the issues,” island resident Patricia Torres said. “The first issue is I shouldn’t have to wait an hour on a line to get home.”

What You Need To Know

  • Because of viral social media posts, the Roosevelt Island Tram has become a hot tourist destination, but it's also squeezing residents out, making for long commutes home

  • Then because of a mechanical problem that forced the trams to run more slowly, the schedule became less frequent starting in October, making the crowding worse

  • Residents say their other option to Midtown, the F train can be crowded and service spotty — including service disruptions for maintenance and they just want resident priority boarding on the tram

She’s talking about the long line of people consistently wrapping around, down 59th Street to board the tram.

“Roosevelt Island has gotten really popular, the tram in specific,” said resident Adam Glenn. “Coming and going, especially coming back to the island from the city, has been chaotic with tourists.”

Also, because of a mechanical issue, the tram has been running more slowly, every 10-and-a-half minutes peak, 21 minutes off-peak.

But that changes Saturday. For two weeks, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC), which runs the island, says they will test out the new schedule: seven-and-a-half minutes peak, 15 minutes off-peak.

“They had some mechanical issues they fixed and now we’re back to the old schedule,” resident Paul Krikler said. “But it won’t fix the issues of tourists crowding us out.”

Krikler has lived on the island for four years and says its viral social media videos touting the views and cherry blossoms in the spring that lead to the long lines just this past year.

“I think people suggested having this mesh stuff like you get on the tourist buses to make it a bit fuzzy,” Krikler said. “I don’t think it’s a great solution.”

One person even suggested blacking out the windows entirely.

What Krikler and more than 2,500 other residents want is priority boarding. Those are the signatories to a petition asking for that. But RIOC, in a post to its site, said to do that would be illegal, quoting a transportation statue that says, “No common carrier shall make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any person....or subject any particular person…. to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever.”

Krikler disagrees.

“Right now, this tram is no longer transit available to us,” he said. “It’s unreasonable for us. We want that restored.”

As for the ferry, it only goes downtown. Residents say bus service to Queens is infrequent and at rush hour it can take several F trains till there’s room to board one.

Commuters say they just want to be able to ride the tram freely.