Assembly Member Kellner Requests MTA Roberts to Further Examine Issues Affecting Roosevelt Island

Assembly Member Micah Kellner (65th AD) issued a letter today to MTA President Howard Roberts to further examine the transportation issues affecting Roosevelt Island in light of the pending 2009 Tram overhaul. See the original letter text by clicking on the attached images.

One of the most striking facts presented in the letter is resident Marc Diamond’s calculations that Tram’s daily ridership is approximately 50% of the subway’s daily ridership. The concern is therefore how will the F Train and our subway station handle a 50% increase in riders every rush hour morning?

Kellner suggests beefing up alternative bus routes to Queens Plaza as well as extension of the Q Lines and rerouting of R or V Trains through Roosevelt Island. I know that Roberts rejected the Q Train extension but this is the first I have heard of the R or V Train re-routing ideas I don’t expect that they will be well received.

Let’s see if Roberts issues a response to this letter. Getting the last response according to transit buffs was amazing enough. We definitely thank Micah Kellner for staying on top of this issue and pushing the MTA to respond to this important issue.

MTA Roberts to Roosevelt Island: No Increased Service Coming Your Way

MTA NYCTA President Howard Roberts issued a reply, dated February 11, 2008, regarding the call to examine and increase subway service to Roosevelt Island. The reply was in regards to a January 20, 2008 request to President Roberts made by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, State Senator Jose Serrano, Assembly Member Micah Kellner and City Council Member Jessica Lappin.

In short the letter reads that the ridership levels are within capacity and that the request to extend the Q Train to 21st Street / Queensbridge would only slow down the overall system as it would interfere with existing F, E and V Train service.

Please let us know your comments as they are being reviewed by our elected representatives.

Elected Officials Call for Extension of Q Line to Supplement F Line to Roosevelt Island

In a joint letter dated January 20th, 2008, to MTA NYCT President Howard H. Roberts, Jr., it has been requested that the MTA re-evaluate the transit needs of Roosevelt Island and requests that a short term solution be instituted that would include extending the Q Line through 21st Queensbridge until the Second Avenue Subway is operational.

The full text of the letter can be linked to HERE.

The letter is signed by United States Representative Carolyn Maloney, NYS Senator Jose M. Serrano, NYS Assembly Member Micah Kellner, and NYC Council Member Jessica Lappin. The letter is a follow-up to Council Member Lappin's July 2006 letter to the MTA.

The letter opens with the following paragraph:

"As elected officials representing the thousands of New Yorkers who live and work on Roosevelt Island, we urge you to address the developing crisis in the island’s mass transit link to Manhattan and the rest of New York City. Already, Roosevelt Islanders are faced with overcrowding on the island’s sole subway connection, the F line. With thousands more residents projected to join the island’s population in the near future, as well as a prolonged period of downtime planned for the Roosevelt Island tram, immediate action is required to prevent a transportation overload of critical proportions."

The letter closes with the following two paragraphs:

"In your response to Councilmember Lappin you stated that “our recent data continues to show that, on average, the F line operates within passenger loading guidelines.” While this may be true – though it conflicts with the daily experience of Roosevelt Island residents who ride the F line – it strikes us as a somewhat shortsighted view of the problem, in light of the island’s rapid population growth and the impending overhaul of the tram.

Given these realities, it is imperative that NYC Transit seriously consider ways to augment subway service to Roosevelt Island as soon as possible. We urge you to consider extending service on the Q line to 21st St./Queensbridge. If you believe this would not be practicable, we ask that you investigate alternate possibilities for increasing service to the rapidly growing population of Roosevelt Island."