Travel advice for those going to Hillary's June 13 campaign kickoff on Roosevelt Island
Access to Roosevelt Island is tricky, but not impossible. As someone who often went to July 4th fireworks displays on the East River, I can offer some advice to make your trip easier. I'm surprised I haven't seen this on her website; I haven't even seen an event time, so please feel free to correct me if I've missed something. The below is mostly aimed at out-of-towners, but I lived in NYC for five years before I ever visited Roosevelt Island (so much else to do...).
General advice: other than purses, don't bring any bags or items you care that much about. I wouldn't bring folding chairs because of the security issue. It's likely security will be necessarily tight and it's possible that even backpacks and picnic baskets might be disallowed. At NYC area football and baseball games, clear bags are sometimes allowed through security checkpoints. If I were going I'd bring a hat, a blanket, some food and water, suntan lotion (don't forget it) and one of those cheap little stick and cloth fans you get in Chinatown. Myself, I'd probably buy a dozen fans and make myself very popular with the folks sitting close to me.
1. Tramway: Don't take it; the line will be enormous. It's a long line anytime there's any activity on the island. The car can hold just over a hundred passengers and runs every 15 minutes on weekends. It is possible the campaign will get rush hour schedules on Saturday but don't count on it. Even at max capacity, the tram will only be able to deliver 1000 people per hour to the island. Don't get caught in that mess. For the adventurous, here's the website and here's a PDF schedule
2. Subway: Leave early. The island is served by a single subway station, the Roosevelt Island stop. Maybe they'll run shuttle trains but I haven't seen any official notice of such accommodation. That means that the F train will be the only train serving the station and according to the service advisory page, all F trains are running local in Queens all weekend, which may mean slower service. Here's the schedule for F train service. It will run every twenty minutes each way in the early morning, then ramp up to every ten minutes most of the day. If the trains are jammed full (roughly 2000 people), then 24,000 riders can get to the island every hour (12,000 each direction). So if 100,000 people were to try to take the trains to the rally, it would take four hours to deliver them all. See why I suggested you leave early? Once you're on the island, you'll be walking a mile south, so plan the extra 30 minutes it will take to walk in a crowd.
3. Bus: don't even try, unless you have special travel needs and leave way early. The Q102 and RedBus both serve the island. Here's the schedule for Q102 and the schedule for the RedBus (which never leaves the island). The Q102 only runs every half hour and can take 50 or so people at max capacity.
4. Walking: best option, IMHO, but still leave early. There's one bridge, the Roosevelt Island Bridge on 36th Avenue. Remember the F will be useless because it will be packed with people bound for the Roosevelt Island subway stop. I'd take the N, Q or 7 train and get off at Queensboro Plaza (2.7 miles on foot, according to Google maps). The 36th Avenue N/Q station would get you a half mile or so closer. Or one could take the E, M or R trains to Queens Plaza but that's a bit longer trek (2.9 miles). The bridge itself will likely be open exclusively to foot traffic during the load in and load out. Here's the map and here's where you can get the schedules.
5. Driving: Not gonna happen. There's one bridge, the same one that will be jammed with pedestrians and virtually no parking for a large crowd. You'd have to park somewhere in Astoria and walk over the 36th Ave bridge. Good luck with the parking; it's always tough to find a parking place even if you live there. Instead of driving, ride the commuter train close and then take local transit to within walking distance.
Wish I could be there, but 1000 miles is a long commute. Best wishes to those attending. It will be hot, so hats, fans and water will be essential. Bring some friends too. It will be historic.
(cross posted from GD by request from Drum)
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