NYU faculty living on Roosevelt Island won't be able to take the tram for most of 2009 while it undergoes $25 million worth of repairs.
The Roosevelt Island Tram, which carries 25 percent of Roosevelt Island commuters to and from Manhattan, will be out of service for at least seven months in early 2009, officials recently announced.
The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, which manages, develops and operates the 147-acre island, plans to give the train "dual capability," meaning both cars will run on different tracks so that delays at one end of the line do not cause delays at the other.
Last June, the Office of Faculty Housing paid $43 million for 58 apartments on Roosevelt Island's south end, and has been slowly selling the units to full-time faculty living in NYU rentals as part of a new home ownership initiative. On March 1, the Office opened sales to all faculty members. Currently, 13 out of the 58 apartments have been sold.
Spokeswoman Kelly Franklin said the Office of Faculty Housing did not expect the tram construction to affect apartment sales.
"One of the main reasons Roosevelt Island is attractive to our faculty is the F train, which provides quick and easy access to our Washington Square campus," she said.
Aside from driving, the only ways to get to Manhattan from Roosevelt Island are the tram - which stops at 59th Street and 2nd Avenue - the Q102 bus to Queens Plaza and the F train, which is the only subway that stops on the island.
Both Franklin and RIOC President Steven Shane said NYU faculty who live on the Island's south end and use the F train would not be affected by the temporary loss of the tram.
RIOC plans to run buses to Queens Plaza during the tram repairs, and Franklin said NYU would assess whether or not supplementary transportation to campus would be necessary.
However, Roosevelt Island Residents Association President Matthew Katz said the F train is often out of service during weekends due to MTA work and is already overcrowded when it does run.
"It is operating at capacity, and we are pretty much at the upper end of our transportation capacity," he said. "I don't think [the tram construction] has been planned particularly well."
But Shane said there are no issues with transportation on the island.
"Frankly, there are people out here spoiled," he said. "Compared to the rest of New York, it's fairly underpopulated."
Franklin said the Office of Faculty Housing will continue to assess the issue as it develops. The Office has scheduled an open house this Thursday for NYU faculty to tour apartments on the island.
Robyn Baitcher is deputy university editor. E-mail her at rbaitcher@nyunews.com.
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