Straphanger's Advocate Russianoff Regarding Roosevelt Island Ridership Levels - Part 2

Gene Russianoff was kind enough to answer a second question today, June 13, 2008, regarding Roosevelt Island ridership levels in his guest column "About Mass Transit" on the NY Times City Room blog.

Marie Babcock (Resident):

Q. Who is monitoring rider usage and population shifts? I live on Roosevelt Island.The rerouting of the Q and F trains and the huge population increase on Roosevelt Island in recent years has caused a major problem here. At rush hours the F trains are so packed arriving here that we are not able to board. Sometimes three trains will pass through with only a small number at the packed station able to board. Now the RI Tram is in need of some long shutdowns due to overdue repair work. It can only get worse.

Gene Russianoff:

A. I have received a number of e-mail messages about crowded conditions on the F at Roosevelt Island. Clearly, whatever New York City Transit’s operations planning department is doing is not enough. Or worse yet, the Queens Boulevard line is at capacity and no more trains are possible. Maybe your elected officials should ask Transit’s President Howard Roberts, Jr. to come to a morning rush hour.

Gene Russianoff on Ridership Increases & Roosevelt Island

In Yesterday's NY Times City Room, June 9, 2008, a call was put out for mass transit questions to be posed to Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. I submitted a question regarding the Roosevelt Island F train stop and increasing ridership. The text of my question and Mr. Russianof's response as posted in this evening's City Room post is below.

Roosevelt Island 360:

Q. Over the last 6 months various state and local legislators have requested NYCTA President Howard Roberts to review the transportation needs of Roosevelt Island with its growing population, taking into account its location on the F Line and the fact that the Tram will be out of service for a good chunk of 2009 due to its rehabilitation. His reply each time has been that the F line has excess capacity to handle the current needs and projected needs of the island. In your experience do you believe that there is excess capacity on the F line as it leaves Queens during the morning rush hour to handle an extra 3,000 plus riders that are expected to move onto Roosevelt Island in the next few years?

Gene Russianoff:

A. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what the capacity of the F train is on Roosevelt Island. What I can tell you is that there is a long history of transit officials not keeping up service with ridership increases. I would press my elected officials to push New York City Transit to do an updated “traffic checking” review. Or do one of your own. I’d be happy to talk to community activists. One anecdote: Way back in the 1980’s, transit officials wanted to close an entrance at 110th and Central Park West. We visited the site and saw that a new apartment house was just being finished – right next to the entrance. To quote David Mamet, who are these people?

So it appears we have some terminology to present to the MTA reps who show up at the June 24th Community Board 8 meeting regarding Roosevelt Island transportation issues. "New Apartment House" huh. It seems we can show several new apartment houses since the MTA switched out the Q Train for the present day F Train.