NEW YORK—Coupled with wind gusts that reached up to 55 mph, the storm that dropped nearly 2 feet of snow on the city left many straphangers stranded Monday.
At approximately 1 a.m. Monday morning, a Manhattan-bound A train with roughly 500 passengers came to a halt between the Aqueduct Racetrack and Rockaway Boulevard stations in Far Rockaway, Queens, the Daily News reported.
Most passengers had departed from JFK International Airport to return home after a night of canceled flights. The storm had cut off the power from the third rail, leaving the commuters stuck in the train for seven hours, until they were finally released at around 8 a.m.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Jay Walder explained at a press conference on Monday that they first pushed the train in an attempt to connect the train’s shoe (a metal block that conducts electricity) to the third rail. When that failed, the MTA arranged for a diesel locomotive to be dispatched from the train yard.
At approximately 1 a.m. Monday morning, a Manhattan-bound A train with roughly 500 passengers came to a halt between the Aqueduct Racetrack and Rockaway Boulevard stations in Far Rockaway, Queens, the Daily News reported.
Most passengers had departed from JFK International Airport to return home after a night of canceled flights. The storm had cut off the power from the third rail, leaving the commuters stuck in the train for seven hours, until they were finally released at around 8 a.m.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Jay Walder explained at a press conference on Monday that they first pushed the train in an attempt to connect the train’s shoe (a metal block that conducts electricity) to the third rail. When that failed, the MTA arranged for a diesel locomotive to be dispatched from the train yard.
Walder said the reasons for the delay were the difficult weather conditions and the train’s location in “an isolated part of the transit system.”
Elsewhere in the subway system, many lines with aboveground trains were suspended, especially in Brooklyn. The Long Island Rail Road was suspended Sunday night, and LI-bound passengers were held at Penn Station for the night. The Metro North ran on Monday morning, but was suspended when conditions appeared to be too dangerous. In the afternoon, service was restored on a limited number of lines.
City buses experienced severe problems. Many were stuck in the middle of the street.
One M15 bus was left stranded overnight on Madison Street on the Lower East Side. The bus driver, who identified himself as Mr. D., said this was the first time he got stuck on the road in his 14 years working at the MTA.
Having gotten stuck in the snow at around 11 p.m. Sunday night, Mr. D. instructed the passengers to leave and wait for the next bus. He then spent the night there.
Mr. D. braved the cold by turning the bus on and off to keep it warm, and sought refuge at a local convenience store. Luckily, at the time of interview, at around 4 p.m. on Monday, help was on the way.
“You drink some hot tea, and you tough it out. Now [I can] go home and go to sleep, come back tomorrow, and hopefully, it’ll be a little better cleaned up,” Mr. D. said.
Some, like Brooklyn resident Allen Wu, experienced heavy traffic on the way back home. Returning from Long Island on Sunday night, Wu sat in traffic for seven hours for a ride that typically took one. When he finally reached Brooklyn, the holdup was so severe that the cars on the street could not move. He spent the night in the car and only returned home in the morning.
Cars were also abandoned on the streets as drivers attempted and failed to make their way through. Abandoned cars blocked the roads, making snow plowing and cleanup efforts difficult.
One M15 bus was left stranded overnight on Madison Street on the Lower East Side. The bus driver, who identified himself as Mr. D., said this was the first time he got stuck on the road in his 14 years working at the MTA.
Having gotten stuck in the snow at around 11 p.m. Sunday night, Mr. D. instructed the passengers to leave and wait for the next bus. He then spent the night there.
Mr. D. braved the cold by turning the bus on and off to keep it warm, and sought refuge at a local convenience store. Luckily, at the time of interview, at around 4 p.m. on Monday, help was on the way.
“You drink some hot tea, and you tough it out. Now [I can] go home and go to sleep, come back tomorrow, and hopefully, it’ll be a little better cleaned up,” Mr. D. said.
Some, like Brooklyn resident Allen Wu, experienced heavy traffic on the way back home. Returning from Long Island on Sunday night, Wu sat in traffic for seven hours for a ride that typically took one. When he finally reached Brooklyn, the holdup was so severe that the cars on the street could not move. He spent the night in the car and only returned home in the morning.
Cars were also abandoned on the streets as drivers attempted and failed to make their way through. Abandoned cars blocked the roads, making snow plowing and cleanup efforts difficult.
Mr. D. said, “It’s too nasty for [the] sanitation [department] to try to clean up because there’s too many people out driving their cars in the snowstorm, so it’s hard to do the cleanup. If everybody was home and had their cars parked, it’ll be faster work cleaning up the city. People [are now] in the way, getting stuck, that’s the dilemma.”
At the press conference Monday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg cited the same problem and advised New Yorkers to refrain from driving to make cleanup efforts run smoother.
Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty announced that tow trucks have been deployed to help remove the cars from the streets. However, he also advised people to avoid shoveling snow onto the roads, as the piling snow will get passing cars stuck as well.
Though the city has dispatched 1,700 plows, 365 salt spreaders, and 2,400 sanitation workers for the cleanup, the city’s response to the snowstorm has been called into question as roads remain unplowed and ridden with abandoned cars and buses.
Doherty noted that tertiary streets will likely be cleared by Tuesday, while Walder said service for Tuesday “will not be a walk in the park. It will be a tough day, [and] we’ll have limited service.”
Bloomberg noted that there should be no problem paying for the cost of cleanup.
“In the grand scheme of things, given the size of our budget and the size of our deficit, this is very small. I think the bigger cost here is … the lack of commerce that takes place. Yesterday and today were big shopping days, and that didn’t happen, so your sales tax revenues would be lower. Those are the things that really hurt,” the mayor said.
Bloomberg remains hopeful that snow removal will be successful since higher temperatures are predicted later this week.
At the press conference Monday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg cited the same problem and advised New Yorkers to refrain from driving to make cleanup efforts run smoother.
Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty announced that tow trucks have been deployed to help remove the cars from the streets. However, he also advised people to avoid shoveling snow onto the roads, as the piling snow will get passing cars stuck as well.
Though the city has dispatched 1,700 plows, 365 salt spreaders, and 2,400 sanitation workers for the cleanup, the city’s response to the snowstorm has been called into question as roads remain unplowed and ridden with abandoned cars and buses.
Doherty noted that tertiary streets will likely be cleared by Tuesday, while Walder said service for Tuesday “will not be a walk in the park. It will be a tough day, [and] we’ll have limited service.”
Bloomberg noted that there should be no problem paying for the cost of cleanup.
“In the grand scheme of things, given the size of our budget and the size of our deficit, this is very small. I think the bigger cost here is … the lack of commerce that takes place. Yesterday and today were big shopping days, and that didn’t happen, so your sales tax revenues would be lower. Those are the things that really hurt,” the mayor said.
Bloomberg remains hopeful that snow removal will be successful since higher temperatures are predicted later this week.
