The Mayor greets riders on the 6 train this morning. (via)
When Mayor Michael Bloomberg and various city and state officials gathered yesterday afternoon to speak about the transit situation, hizzoner warned the assembled crowd about Monday in, well, less than sympathetic terms. “Tough commute tomorrow,” the Mayor said, “but we have tough commutes all the time.”
For those of us in the five boroughs, though, it wasn’t a particularly tough commute. The Mayor’s 6 train from 77th Street wasn’t too crowded, and although the MTA warned that trains wouldn’t run as frequently, many offices in Manhattan remained closed today as employees from New Jersey and Westchester were left without transit options. Thus, trains were empty, and few people were in a rush to get anywhere.
As the recovery continues, subway service will increase throughout the day, but the commuter rail situation looks a little bit dicier. I’ve heard that Metro-North has a “tentative plan” to restart service tomorrow at 2 p.m., but trains would run on a modified Sunday schedule. Many parts of the system remain submerged under flood waters, covered by downed trees or buried under mudslides. Normalcy may take a few more days.
2 comments
I wish I could ride the train with 4+ goons and a uniform! Bet there wouldn’t be any homeless pissing or 5 ft tall gropers running about.
In all seriousness, the Mayor and the MTA handled this all very well, both in terms of actual management and message. Go NYC & MTA!
I didn’t get the sense that Mayor Bloomberg was unsympathetic to the riders at all (though maybe he was sticking it to the media; that might be the case). To me, he was building an espirit de corps. Yes, yes, he’s a billionaire and has alternatives, but per the photo posted above, at least he’s actually on a/the train once in a while; that’s better than most (all?) of his predecessors.