DNAinfo Staff
MANHATTAN — Nearly two days after a pounding blizzard left the city buried under almost two feet of snow, transit service remained hobbled as crews continued to dig out from the snowstorm.
Most of the major subway lines were still experiencing delays or service changes due to the blizzard, forcing the MTA to tell riders to stay home Monday as it worked to restore service.
The 1-2-3, 4-5-6 and A-C-E lines were all experiencing delays Tuesday afternoon prior to the evening rush, according to the MTA. The D-F-M, J-Z and G lines also had delays, and the 7 train was running local in both directions.
The D train had no service between the Bay Parkway and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue stations in both directions, while the B train had no service between the Bedford Park Boulevard and Brighton Beach stations in both directions.
The L train was running in both directions between the Eighth Avenue and Broadway Junction stations, with a shuttle train running between the Broadway Junction and Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway stations.
The Q train had no service between the Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue stations in both directions, and the N train had no service between the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue and Whitehall Street stations in both directions.
The Long Island Rail Road, which was shut down for most of the day Monday, had restored limited service on the Port Washington, Huntington/Port Jefferson, Ronkonkoma and Babylon branches prior to Tuesday’s evening rush. The LIRR expected gradual service to resume on other branches throughout the day.
The Metro-North Railroad’s Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines were operating on a Saturday schedule Tuesday, with additional stops on the Hudson line added to accommodate commuters.
The 4:57 p.m. train to Croton-Harmon will make all station stops between Marble Hill and Croton-Harmon; an additional 5:16 p.m. train will operate to Poughkeepsie, making stops at Croton-Harmon, Cortlandt, Peekskill, Garrison, Cold Spring, Beacon, New Hamburg and Poughkeepsie; and the 5:57 p.m. train to Croton-Harmon will make all station stops between Marble Hill and Croton-Harmon.
New Jersey Transit was experiencing up to one hour delays on certain lines, but most were operating close to or on schedule.
Area airports resumed flights Monday night, with LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports reopening to air traffic, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Alternate-side parking rules were suspended again on Wednesday as crews work to clear roads left buried by the blizzard.
"Anyone who's been outside can see this storm is unlike anything we've had to deal with," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a press conference Tuesday to give an update on the city's dig-out effort.
He tweeted later that the city had attached snow plows to graffiti trucks to help with the cleanup, adding that the Department of Transportation had 240 employees working on the roads Tuesday.
The Department of Environmental Protection also deployed 24 vehicles in the effort, and another five trucks were arriving from upstate.
The mayor added that more 2,000 Department of Sanitation workers and 1,700 plows were being used "to clear remaining streets as fast and as safely as possible."
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 added at the press conference.
So far, the police had removed more than 1,000 vehicles from the Van Wyck, Gowanus and Cross Bronx expressways alone.
"It's a bad situation and we're working together to fix it," the mayor said. "Nobody suggests that this is easy, nobody suggests that this is pleasurable. We will pull together to get through this."
Still, Bloomberg acknowledged that the storm was frustrating New Yorkers who were still waiting for the all the snow to be cleared from their streets.
He asked residents to remain patient as the snow was cleared, but many New Yorkers were frustrated about the build-up.
"It's disgusting, to be honest with you," said Angie Rivera, 32, who lives in Chelsea. "You've got to find a maze around you. People have been walking in the street, slipping and sliding"
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said the city's response to the blizzard was "unacceptable."
"New Yorkers have serious questions about the city's snow emergency policy and response," Quinn said in a statement.
She added that the Council will hold hearings next month to examine the city’s response to the blizzard.
"This hearing acknowledges the reality that many New Yorkers are experiencing, that something went wrong," the speaker said. "We will conduct a constructive fact finding effort with the goal of preventing it from happening again."
Long Island Rail Road commuters vented their frustrations about the slow service on Tuesday.
Rita Berman said it took her almost two hours to get into Manhattan for her job as a language teacher near Rockefeller Center. She noted it usually takes about an hour.
"People were getting very upset on the platform, of course. But the conductors were pretty reasonable," said Berman, who got on the LIRR in Babylon, L.I.
"I was happy because I got my coffee and a seat. I felt lucky, but I felt sorry for the people in Nassau [County], because it was so crazy for them because they couldn't get on the train."
While many commuters struggled to get into the city, some workers waited for hours at Penn Station waiting to catch a train home.
Victor Silva, 42, waited Tuesday morning for a train back to Long Beach after being stranded at his job as a maintenance worker at Chelsea Piers Monday night.
"I went into work at headquarters last night and stayed until this morning," said Silva, who slept on a cot overnight.
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