Commuters in New York City faced more headaches on Tuesday
as subways, buses and commuter trains continued to experience heavy delays due
to Sunday's blizzard.
Passengers rest at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the United States, Dec. 28, 2010. A large number of passengers were still stranded at the airport on Tuesday morning though it had reopened since 4 p.m. local time on Dec. 27. (Xinhua/Wang Jida)
Manhattan bus service was severely affected by the blizzard, with limited-stop service suspended until further notice, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Subway service to most lettered and numbered lines was restored, but many of the lines were experiencing delays.
More than 200 city buses and nearly 60 ambulances were still stuck in the snow blocking streets and hampering plowing. The lingering snow and ice also caused thousands of travelers to be stuck for hours at the JFK Airport, said the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
"Anyone who's been outside can see this storm is unlike anything we've had to deal with," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a press conference at the Office of Emergency Management Headquarters in Brooklyn to give an update on the city's dig-out effort.
He said the number one challenge is stuck ambulances and abandoned cars and buses, which made it very difficult for plows to move as quickly as they usually do. The city is doing everything to get more tow trucks in. Police tow trucks and those of private contractors hired by the city, were still pulling abandoned vehicles from city streets to allow plows to move through secondary and smaller streets, the Mayor said. So far, the police had removed more than 1,000 vehicles.
(CPV)
