MetroCard has come to the Tram.

It took ten years and an extraordinary political-financial deal.  But starting Monday, March 1, Tram riders got the MetroCard’s free second rides, finally fulfilling the “one city, one fare” promise of the token-free MetroCard system.

The system cranked up Monday morning without a hitch.  Holders of a supply of Tram tokens have until March 15 to trade them in for a MetroCard at either Tram terminal.

The deal, put together by City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, who represents the Island, produces a win-win for Roosevelt Island and the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC): Whether first swipe or second – first ride or second – RIOC will get the revenue anytime someone uses the Tram.  As Miller told The WIRE, “It came down to money, and we struck a deal.”

Miller offered both RIOC and the New York City Transit Authority a deal they could not refuse: For five years, New York City will provide a million dollars a year for the the transit system’s capital budget.  In return, the Transit Authority will forego first-swipe revenue anytime there’s a second swipe at a Tramway turnstile.  RIOC will get the money every time someone rides the Tram, whether it’s the first or second ride.

Here’s how Miller described the arrangement to The WIRE after Monday’s noontime press conference: “The way it works with every other system is everybody gives up the second ride.  So with the private franchise buses and everybody else, whoever takes the first swipe gets the money, whoever takes the second swipe doesn’t get the money.  We didn’t want RIOC to lose that revenue because it’s needed for the operation of the Island.  So I negotiated an agreement with RIOC and with the Transit Authority where, instead of the Transit Authority taking the first swipe, so that when someone comes out of the subway here, they pay [only] for the subway, the TA is going to swallow that, and let Roosevelt Island get the money from the second swipe.  And in exchange I put a million dollars into the capital budget this year and each year for the next five years in order to make the New York City Transit Authority whole.”

For New York City Transit, the MetroCard’s free transfers have meant an overall increase in ridership.  But for ten years, the Tram was the exception.  Loss of revenue on second rides kept the Tramway out of the MetroCard system.  Despite pressure from residents, no RIOC President was able to solve the revenue problem; it seemed insoluble, in fact, and they seemed to try only half-heartedly, if at all.  RIOC, already losing a million dollars or more a year to keep the Tramway in service, wasn’t able to commit to the MetroCard.  The isolation of the Tramway, even while it kept Tramway revenue flowing solely to RIOC, seemed to threaten the Tram as riders shifted to the subway for both its reach and its free second ride.  Once F-line improvements were completed and a long series of train changes and mixed schedules settled down to dependable service, the Tram began losing ridership and its financial losses accelerated.

Now, though it doesn’t have its reach, the Tram has near-parity with the F train, providing a free transfer to or from a bus or subway line.

The deal may ensure the future of the Tramway, at least for the few years of the deal Miller brokered.  For the MTA, it takes some pressure off the F train, which could expect more serious overcrowding as additional housing units are built here and produce more riders wanting morning-rush access to Manhattan.

For RIOC President Herb Berman, MetroCard for the Tramway represents the first substantially positive development of his six-month-old term of office.  In Monday’s press conference, he hailed it as “another great day in the history of New York City.”  He continued, “The only commuter Tramway in the United States now accepts the MetroCard, the symbol of the greatest mass transit system in the United States, the Metropolitan Transit Authority.  With one swipe of the MetroCard, all New Yorkers will now be guaranteed a seamless ride from the Tramway to the bus or subway.  Finally, after more than a quarter century, Roosevelt Island’s Tram will be part of the MTA system...

“Although I’ve only been President of the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation for six months, when I took this job, Governor Pataki charged me with bringing the most benefits possible to Roosevelt Island.  Today’s integration of the Tram into the MTA system is one of those benefits.  It has been a long time coming, and I appreciate the diligence of individuals and groups who brought about the importance of this day to my attention, including the Roosevelt Island Residents Association under Matt Katz.”

Berman introduced Miller, who also thanked Residents Association President Katz, who had accosted New York City Transit Authority President Larry Reuter about the MetroCard for the Tramway in February of 2002 at an MTA Riders’ Forum.  Katz did not speak at the press conference, but comments in his column in this issue.  (Click here to read the Katz column.)

Miller said, in the press conference, “Today, we connect Roosevelt Island with the rest of the City. Roosevelt Island is at the heart of the City, a small town in the biggest City in the world...”  

Click here for a transcript of the press conference proceedings.