It has become painfully obvious to informed Roosevelt Islanders that RIOC President Dr. Jerome Blue has been using the State Comptroller's Audit done in March, 1996, as a weapon against us. He cites its figures and recommendations to curtail services, especially as it relates to the Tram, to justify his plans and actions.

Upon reading the audit, I notice it suggested curtailing Tram hours of operation, eliminating "unnecessary positions," and other measures we're now sadly aware of dule to "declining ridership and revenues." Translation: It's costing the State too much money.

It further states that "...although the Tram is a municipal service and is not expected to make a profit, a transit system should evaluate the cost/benefits of its various routes and cease operations of routes that fail to meet minimum ridership thresholds." First of all, our Tram is not one of many "routes" of a bus or subway line. It is the only form of safe transportation late at night for Roosevelt Islanders who don't have a car or can't afford taxis several times a week or month.

I decided to analyze the figures and get information on other municipal transportation services to try to determine what the norm is. The audit states that Tram ridership has dropped in half since the opening of the subway in 1989 and that the annual deficit averaged $449,000 from 1990-95. It acknowledges the Tram operated at a surplus until then (to my knowledge, unheard of in U.S. municipal transportation). Using the audit's figures, I calculated that from 1994-95, the last year the audit addresses, passenger fares contributed 68.5% of the total cost of Tram operations and in the last five yars of the report, 1990-95, we contributed 75.8%.

I then contacted City, State and Federal agencies and received both written reports and verbal estimates from them. The sources that I used were: a US Federal Transit Administration Report dated 1994 (latest available); a report from the American Public Transit Association (a national lobbying organization) for 1994 and 1995 projected; a 10/96 report entitled "Federal Register - FTA Fiscal Year 1997 Apportionments & Allocations Notice."

I also spoke to people at the NYC Department of Transportation, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, the NY Metropolitan Transportation Council, the NYS Operating Assistance Program, adn the NY Publi Interest Research Group (including the Straphangers Campaign).

Gene Rushinoff from this last group claims Long Island Railroad passengers pay 42% of the cost, Metro North, 55% - both less than Tram riders pay. However, these are considered "heavy rail" and not a good basis of comparison to our Tram.

Examples of more comparable modes of transportation: PATH riders pay 37.6% of the cost; State Island Ferry passengers pay 13% (and this will drop to 0% in July of this year); "Light Rail" (trolley and other specialized bus/rail systems) nationally pay 33%.

Some detail on Light Rail: 16 cities list LR in the reports I used, paying 27% or less. (Denver is at 9%.) Only Boston, San Diego and Newart are above 40% and then it jumps up to 66% for New Orleans, the most of any US city listed. Then there's us, depending on years analyzed, 68.5% to 75.8%.

Why is municipal transit subsidized? Because it is part of the services taxpayers expect for their tax dollars. Since Roosevelt Islanders pay some of the highest taxes in the nation because of the combination of high city and state taxes, you would think our transportation would be subsidized at a higher rate yet the opposite is true. I am not an auditor nor accountant but after extensive research using information available, I could find no comparable form of transportation that is subsidized as little as our Tram is and yet the State wants to curtail service because of revenue considerations.

To add insult to injury, in July of this year, the MTA will be offering free transfers from bus to subway and vice versa if you use it within two hours using the Metro Card, effectively doing away with two-fare zones. But not for Tram riders! In early 1998, the track relatying project will begin 4-5 years of severely curtailed subway service making Tramway service even more crtitical.

The bottom line of all this is: most of us were lured to Roosevelt Island because of easy and safe access to Manhattan via the Tram; we already pay more than any other city for comparable transport, so not only will closing the Tram down at 10PM to save money be totally unfair financially, our convenience, safety, and peace of mind will be jeopardized as well.

Dr. Blue may choose to use reports and figures to justify cutting our services. I choose to use them to justify not cutting them. The figures speak for themselves.