Imagine flying hundreds of feet above the air – seeing the best New York has to offer – and getting to your destination in record time. If you can also imagine being stuck in midair for hours and NOT getting to your destination at all, you’re probably thinking about the frightening aspects of relying on a new form of transportation proposed for the city.
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| Remember this debacle? |
We already had a disaster with the Roosevelt Island Tram in
2006. I remember watching the news and seeing the tram suspended in the middle
of the line over the East River for what
seemed like endless hours. It was pitch black by the time everyone was saved.
Over 60 unfortunate commuters, who simply wanted an easygoing trip from one
place to another, were stranded until rescue workers showed up.
Published reports stated that this wasn’t the first
catastrophe that happened on the tram. Our city takes thousands of people, from
one borough to another, 24 hours, seven days a week on public transportation
and there’s no guarantee that everyone’s going to make it through their commute
without problems.
So why are we entertaining the idea of the “East River
Skyway?” Someone (or a group of residents) should protest what could be another
dangerous and lagging means of travel. Haven’t we learned our lesson?
The city already can’t keep up with the amount of commuters
it has to transport every day. Hundreds are moving into the city as more
multiple family dwellings are being built in posh and hipster communities. The
‘L’ train alone is constantly having more cars added to its line – and trains
that run more frequently – every year to serve the growing population in Williamsburg, Greenpoint
and Bushwick. And what happens as a result of
added trains and constant traffic?
DISASTER!!
My little sister, coming home from the city on her first
week of high school, was stuck at Broadway Junction
during rush hour with no ‘L’ train in site. The whole line was out of whack,
but the MTA didn’t even provide a shuttle bus as soon as the problem occurred –
leaving my sister stranded and looking for an alternate route to get home via
an East New York bus she never traveled on
before.
Let’s get real! The irony of spending millions to improve
our transportation system, which leaves commuters stranded because of
its overuse, is not a lesson we want to learn the hard way! We’re spending
millions to “upgrade” a system that constantly has signal and switch problems.
Construction debacles cause shuttle trains and buses to run for weeks and
months at a time. In addition, we’re always being herded – literally like
cattle – from one train or bus to another when the MTA encounters a problem.
Isn’t this proof that our city needs to focus on improving
the flow and dependency of transportation methods we already facilitate?
Sure, “it happens” but do you want incidents to “happen” while you’re in a
tiny, caged car with dozens of strangers, dangling over the East River?
Okay, I get it – maybe the East River Skyway will help
alleviate some of the train and bus traffic that causes congestion. And who
doesn’t like a scenic view of our bridges and boroughs? If developers and
engineers can truly build a system that will handle our daily abuse – and come
up with a safety contingency plan that won’t leave people hanging over a body
of water for more than an hour – then it might work.
Unless you ride the rails every day, you’ll never know the
fear the MTA has instilled in commuters who need to get back and forth from
work. No matter how attractive, costly or efficient any new form of
transportation seems, the real test will be enduring the countless hours –
stranded in the middle of nowhere – when these beauties malfunction. Happy
trails to you and happy spending on a system whose destination is ruining your
sanity!
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