A response to today’s snow and tomorrow’s

In December, station platforms and subway tracks were buried by the snow. (Courtesy of New York City Transit)

It is snowing. Cue the plows! Pull out the shovels! Toss the salt! After last month’s snow debacle, the city is going to make sure we’re ready, and as of this writing, three plows have already passed by my window tonight. They might just be tearing up the asphalt roadbed instead of clearing up the one inch of snow on the ground, but they’re out there.

As New York works to keep its streets clear and sidewalks less slippery, the MTA has ramped up its snow preparedness as well. Already, express trains are running local and the authority expects them to do so well into Wednesday. The commuter rail lines are running reduced schedules, and the authority is urging passengers to check its website before venturing out in the morning. For up-to-the-minute reports on transit, the Daily News is running a live-blog.

Meanwhile, MTA officials spent part of Tuesday afternoon assuring reporters that the authority will be better prepared for the current storm. Hundreds of customers won’t get trapped near Howard Beach or on trains above-ground in the deeper reaches of Brooklyn, but potential commuters also must take care to travel only if it is necessary. “If you don’t need to travel tomorrow morning, please don’t,” MTA CEO and Chairman Jay Walder said on Tuesday.

Late last night, the authority elaborated on its approach to the snow in a statement: “Our goal in this and all storms is to continue providing service so long as it is safe for our customers, employees and equipment. We recognize the importance of public transportation especially when conditions are difficult. Doing this safely means service may be temporarily suspended or curtailed to avoid stuck trains and buses.”

But what of that next storm? What of the big one? The authority said today that it’s still conducting its own review of its snow procedures, and already, the agency has established a centralized snow command in charge of coordinating weather-related services. It’s also gearing up to have a response plan for major blizzards. Pete Donohue received advanced word of the MTA’s snow review and clued us in as to what to expect in the future. He writes:

The MTA may shut down at least some subway service during future blizzards rather than risk trains getting stuck, the Daily News has learned. “We may need to shut down the system,” an internal Metropolitan Transportation Authority document says. “We need to change the philosophy of how we operate, particularly in snowstorms. Keeping the service running regardless might not be the best option.”

The agency’s subway division kept running trains in last month’s blizzard. Three A trains with hundreds of passengers were stuck in eastern Queens – including one for about seven hours. Next time there’s such a severe blast, “We need to think about an organized shutdown of the system,” the document says.

The document is a draft summary of a meeting transit executives held last week to improve its storm response.

For years, the MTA has tried to power through the storm on the theory that trains can push snow out of the way, but when drifts pile up, as they did in December, the trains cannot pass. It happened in 1996 during the city’s big snow storm, and it always seems to knock out the subway system. Being willing to cancel service ahead of the storm may leave commuters struggling for other options, but it won’t leave them stuck at an unfamiliar train station and miles away from home.

Unfortunately, the city and the MTA cannot control the weather. They don’t dictate when it snows or how much accumulates. They can fight it as it falls, but as more arrives, it builds up with nowhere to go. To fight the snow, sometimes, we just have to accept it for what it is, and that is seemingly what the MTA’s new plan will try to do.