Roosevelt Island Tramway

This guide to the Roosevelt Island Tramway in New York opens on the evening of April 18, 2006, when sixty-nine commuters boarded North America's only urban commuter cable car for an ordinary ride above the East River, and the power died mid-crossing. You'll hear how a twelve-year-old calmed a terrified babysitter while others danced to ringtones to pass the time, and how the tram once made a cameo dangling children in a Spider-Man film. It traces back to the tram's 1976 opening as the country's first commuter cable car, suspended on Swiss-built steel cables.