After its response to late December’s surprise blizzard drew criticism, the MTA has already initiated its Plan 4 snow response. The subways will follow the MTA’s cold weather service patterns with B train service ending at around 8 p.m. and the M to Forest Hills at 11 p.m. With five or six inches of snow on the way, Transit will be prepared for the snow this time around. “We want to make sure we want to do this one right,” Tom Prendergast, head of New York City Transit, said this afternoon.
To prepare for the snow, which they expect to begin in earnest at around 4 a.m., the MTA will store unused trains underground tonight. Thus, express service may not run on many lines. Furthermore, the MTA has readied its fleet of de-icers, track sweepers and snow throwers, and workers will be retained for 12-hour shifts. The authority has also reestablished a central command center that will help the agency keep a close eye on areas in the field where snow hinders transit operations. “That lack of info hurt us and inhibited us…from responding to high winds and drifting snow,” Prendergast said of last month’s blizzard.
Meanwhile, as buses will be chained this evening, the authority has canceled all weekend work as well. This includes a one-week postponement of the Culver Viaduct rehab. With fewer inches of snow in the forecast, Transit is out to prove that it learned something from last week’s lesson. They say they’re prepared for a winter storm, and tonight should bring them the season’s next test.
12 comments
The most pointless declaration of plan 4 ever!
Probably, but it’s standard operating procedure. If the forecast calls for 5+ inches of snow, they go to Plan 4, and that’s what’s happening here. They also weren’t going to be left up a creek without a paddle this week after what happened last month.
I agree that a lower plan should’ve been enacted instead of an all out Plan 4. Local forecasters are saying NYC should only get 2-3 inches at best from this storm with the worst going further upstate. This is definitely an overreaction by the MTA to cover their butts.
in context, it’s hard to criticize them for overreacting. worse things have happened.
A political over-reaction. Typical and an expensive one at that. Why cancel the B the night before and this morning there’s nothing yet on the ground. C’mon, an excuse just to pay the OT they didn’t want to pay over Christmas to quiet down the rank and file.
How corrupt…
If you’d like, I can say it a third time. When the forecast calls for 5 or more inches of snow, that’s the MTA’s default reaction. The forecast called for that as of 11 a.m. yesterday when they had to make the decision. You can’t criticize the MTA for failing to act in December while turning around and saying they’re overreacting this week. That’s an absurdist reaction.
Ben, I hear you, but your statement about a default reaction is inaccurate because the MTA did not react in the default manner to the December blizzard which, by definition then is therefore not the default reaction.
I tell you what. I can’t blame them that much for what happened in December. As I’ve been telling most people: That storm contained a number of factors. 1) It was a impact storm that will be recognized by weather experts for life. 2) The timing was incredible. You’re talking about a major storm a day after a major holiday and on the weekend, a Sunday no less! 3) The same question I ask everyone. What do you do with 20 inches of snow? Basically the lines affected the most were lines running in undercuts and the Broad Channel. There was nothing the MTA was going to be able to do to fight off that snow in blizzard conditions even if Plan 4 was declared. It would have been a mostly lost cause because there was no where to put it. Even on Metro-North along Park Avenue for 5 days straight everytime a train passed the snow flew up into the air and settled after the pass.
Seriously in 1996 more was done before that storm and Subways were still shut down for two days. Because in a blizzard what do you do with 4-5 feet snow drifts. If you can answer that then you should work for the MTA. The city is a whole different can of corn.
theyre having some service issues so its a good thing they have plans in place. the downtown 4/5 were stopping at bowling green (not going into brooklyn). i backtracked to fulton to the 3 ( which is a looooooong transfer) but a lot of ppl were jammed up waiting for the 4/5. also there were some signal issues on the brooklyn end of the 2.
Plan 4 definitely doesn’t help underground delays in Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn. Doesn’t hurt but I really don’t see how this would improve the current delay one way or another. Seems like typical weekday service irregularities to me.
Are you sure that all 4/5 trains were terminating at Bowling Green? If there were trains stored on the express tracks in Brooklyn, some trains (all 4’s? all 5’s? some of each?) might have had to terminate at Bowling Green – otherwise the 2, 3, 4, and 5 would have all been running on the local tracks, which is a tight squeeze.