Kate Hinds

Brooklyn "bus bridge" locations

(SEE UPDATE BELOW) Manhattan-bound Brooklynites: Go to Jay Street, not Barclays -- it will immeasurably improve your ride into Manhattan.

We're getting reports this morning that Thursdays' Brooklyn-Manhattan commute is proving...challenging. But once riders clear daunting lines at the three bus bridge locations in Brooklyn, traffic over the bridges into Manhattan is moving quickly.

But because the line at Barclays Center is longer than the line at Jay Street -- and Jay Street is closer to the Manhattan Bridge -- riders are being directed to the bus bridge stop at Jay.

Here's what we know: this morning, TN's Andrea Bernstein was at the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn. The arena was built at this site because of its 11 subway lines and Long Island Rail Road service. And now it's functioning as the site of one of three MTA-operated "bus bridges" that must shuttle passengers between the two boroughs until the subway tunnels can be restored.

(Subway and LIRR service to Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center was relatively uneventful -- even uncrowded. To encourage transit use, the MTA isn't collecting fares.)

Subway fares have been waived (photo by Caitlyn Kim)

But as those transit riders pour out of the Atlantic Avenue terminal, they are confronted by bus lines that she says wrap entirely around the arena.

"Thousands of them are in line," Andrea said. She said MTA workers were getting people onto buses as quickly as they can -- but once the bus is loaded, it must confront traffic. "They are waiting for a police escort to help take them down Flatbush Avenue across the Manhattan Bridge," she said.

People whose commute normally takes 45 minutes told Andrea that it's taken them an hour and a half just to get to the Barclays Center, and that's before taking the bus to Manhattan.

The line to board a bus on Hewes Street, Brooklyn (photo by Jim O'Grady)

Meanwhile, in Williamsburg, WNYC's Jim O'Grady said Hewes Street isn't quite that crowded--but not by much.

Speaking by cell phone, he said "I'm looking at a line that is a block long." Or it was a block long, before another J train disgorged dozens more people who promptly got in line for the bus over the Williamsburg Bridge.

Boarding the Hewes Street bus (photo by Jim O'Grady)

Jim said the crowds boarding buses was reminiscent of a Tokyo subway: "There are MTA workers in orange vests, and they are pushing people onto the buses and forcibly closing the doors on them."

It sounds dire, but Jim said the 10 MTA workers were efficient and doing a good job.

But, like Barclays Center, the buses are pulling out into traffic.

Jim said police are checking to make sure each vehicle has three passengers in it -- ensuring compliance with the new HOV rules. Once drivers clear that checkpoint, he said, traffic seems to be moving well over the bridge.

(UPDATE 10:20) Once buses make it to the Manhattan Bridge, the ride over is a stark contrast to the line gridlock.

Or, as Andrea says: "That was awesome! I got to Manhattan so quickly that I missed my stop!"

Later, Andrea reported that she was seeing a lot more police officers directing traffic. "They were really there, they were really doing it."

It sounds like the dedicated bus lanes are working as intended: they are speeding traffic over the bridge. Andrea also said that southbound riders told her they made great time from 57th Street to Spring Street -- it was a 15 minute trip.

Andrea reports that someone on the bus was so happy with the speed it was traveling he told her: "imagine if we had rapid bus transit, then the buses would be like this all the time."

Remember, transit riders: MTA head Joe Lhota warned riders Wednesday night that the commute would be tough. “Be flexible about your travel times," he added in an emailed statement. "We have come a long way in a short time to repair the damage from the most devastating event to strike our transportation system.”

For more travel info, visit our transit tracker.

Put away your MetroCard and commuter rail passes: transit fares have been waived in New York through Friday

Take a look at the Thursday subway map and find out where to catch a bus bridge here

No word yet on when Staten Island Ferry service will resume, but rivers are plying the East River again (link)

No rail yet for NJ Transit, but they have restored most bus service

Amtrak says limited service in the Northeast will resume Friday (link)

Let's hope that the bus/subway combo works better than Wednesday's bus only #commutefail

Looking for more details? Visit our Transit Tracker.

WNYC's Jim O'Grady says the phrase of the day: "Yo yo yo I need three!"  Drivers are looking for passengers to comply with the HOV requirements on bridges.

Wait times to board the "bus bridge" to Manhattan stretched to over an hour, tweeted one person waiting in line at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Others tweet it's more like four.

Remember MTA head Joe Lhota's words: "Bear with us."

Line for a "bus bridge" at Brooklyn's Barclays Center (photo by Alohaimchelle via instagram)

Meanwhile, on Metro-North's Harlem Line:

An uncrowded Metro-North train (photo by @DonChenNYC)

Flooding at the South Ferry subway station (photo courtesy of NY MTA)

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday night that he was "declaring a transportation emergency" and authorized the MTA to waive fares on subways, buses, and rail lines through Friday.

Cuomo said that decision was prompted in part by the grueling traffic in Manhattan on Wednesday. He called the gridlock "dangerous" and said he wanted to encourage people to use transit.

But the subway system that will be up and running Thursday will not be the system New Yorkers are used to. Only 14 of the 23 lines will be operational, and even those will be running in segments. LIRR service is being slowly phased back in. Cuomo said one bright point was that roughly 50% of regular customers would have normal service on the Metro-North commuter rail line.

"Bear with us," said MTA head Joe Lhota, who was seated next to the governor at the last-minute press conference. He called the damage done by Hurricane Sandy the "most devastating event ever to happen to the MTA."

There are still subway tunnels flooded with water from "floor to ceiling," said Cuomo. Beginning Thursday, the Army Corps of Engineers will begin deploying 250 "high-speed pumping devices" to aid water removal. These will be operated around the clock until the tunnels are clear.

Meanwhile, to shuttle passengers between Brooklyn and Manhattan, the MTA will put 330 buses into service to act as a bus bridge. Late Wednesday night the New York City Department of Transportation released more details about how the bus lanes will be structured. DOT spokesman Seth Solomonow said the city was creating a "surface subway."

Starting at 6am tomorrow -- timed to coincide with the start of the subway -- buses will operate over Manhattan Bridge via a two-way bus lane on the lower level. These bus-only lanes will be operational 24/7 and will be enforced by the NYPD. Buses will also go over the Williamsburg Bridge. In both cases, buses will make major stops on their way uptown via the Bowery and Third Avenue along a dedicated curbside lane -- which he said will also be enforced by the NYPD.

The buses will run up to 55th Street, then turn around and head back to Brooklyn on Lexington Avenue.

For more information about transit service in New York, visit our Transit Tracker.

No fares = back door boarding -- IF you could get on (photo by Kate Hinds)

I left my Upper West Side apartment at 9:53 this morning, aiming for an M7 or M11 bus -- only to see a packed M11 pulling out of the bus stop on Columbus Avenue and 80th Street, leaving a trail of would-be passengers in its crowded wake.

The Columbus Avenue bus was my stand-in for the C train, which I normally take down to Spring Street. I had adjusted my expectations about my Wednesday commute, but even in the new reality of post-Sandy transportation it was grueling.

I had ridden my bike the 80+ blocks to work on Tuesday, which I often do -- but the return trip home, in the dark, with no streetlights, was harrowing. So I was glad to see the return of some transit.

But by 10:12 a group of us were still waiting for a downtown bus we could actually get on. I was busy both talking to people and eavesdropping (overheard at the bus stop: one man complained to his friend that he was sorry he sold his car; his friend said to him "man, you don't want to own a car in New York -- it's too expensive!")

A couple of crosstown M79s went by, comparatively empty. The crosstown bus line -- often used by people getting to subway lines on either side of Central Park -- was nowhere near as popular as the uptown/downtown ones.

New Yorkers who wanted to go downtown could only gawk in envy at the relatively empty M79s (photo by Kate Hinds)

"The crosstown was terrific," said woman I spoke to. Sue Breger was going from her home on East End Avenue to her office at Primary Stages, on 38th and 8th. She was one of the few sanguine commuters I spoke to. "I think we've been through worse, and I love this city," she said.

By 10:20, two M7s had come and gone, too full to pack on to. A few minutes later, two M11s followed, so crowded that people were riding in the door wells. By 10:38, I was debating the merits of bailing on Columbus with another woman, only to be told by a third person that the lines -- and gridlock -- on Broadway were no better. I considered the M10 on Central Park West and discarded it, for the simple reason that I rarely see it running on a good day.

Meanwhile, I waited. I felt like a desert island castaway, ceaselessly tracking the horizon for rescue. "I think I see an M7! I think it has room! Oh, never mind, it's too crowded."

At 11:05, I was able to push my way onto an M11.

Welcome to your Wednesday morning, post-Sandy commute (photo by Kate Hinds)

But did I mention what Columbus Avenue looked like?

Sure, you can get on a bus, but will it actually move in this traffic? (Photo of Columbus Avenue by Kate Hinds)

Twenty-three minutes later, I had only gone 15 blocks. Which was a walk in the park compared to a man whose personal space I was invading. Newman (as he identified himself) had been on the M11 for two hours, after boarding at 125th Street. "My shift started at 10," he said. "It's terrible." He was trying to get to his job at B&H photo on 34th Street. "I don't know why, but they're open," he said. "But that's business."

At that point, I overheard a woman talking to a friend on her cellphone. "I want to go to Dubai or Monaco," she said wistfully. "Places you go to by helicopter or Maserati."

Our unMaserati-like pace gave me plenty of time to meditate on what was slowing progress: hyper-crowded roads hampered by the dangling crane at 57th Street, which had caused street closures. Another complicating factor: Columbus Avenue turns into Ninth Avenue, which runs into...the Lincoln Tunnel, the only avenue of egress to New Jersey on Wednesday morning. And there was undoubtedly a ripple effect caused by the power outages south of 26th Street on the West Side.

By 11:40 a.m., I was only on 57th Street, and had gotten the word from my editor to return home. I made it back to my apartment, on foot, in under 30 minutes.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced during a press conference Wednesday that some rail service is returning -- but there will be no subway service below 42nd Street. He also said that the LIRR and Metro-North will begin limited service this afternoon at 2pm. More when we have it.

From the MTA's website:

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that beginning this afternoon, both Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad will begin to provide limited service on part of their respective networks. The Governor also announced that beginning Thursday morning, there will be limited subway service on several routes, supplemented by a bus shuttle between Downtown Brooklyn and Midtown. There will be no subway service between 34th St in Midtown and Downtown Brooklyn.  Earlier today, Local, Limited-Stop and Express Bus service began operating as close to a normal weekday schedule as possible. As was the case yesterday, bus service will operate on a fare-free basis today.  Access-A-Ride also began limited service today, as well as accepting reservations for travel after Noon tomorrow.

NYC began restoring bus service at 5pm Tuesday. (Photo by Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick Cashin)

TN/WNYC has put together a Transit Tracker for the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut region. Check it often for the latest transit updates.

Bus maps of operational NYC routes can be found here.

The MTA says it will provide a schedule for subway service restorations by midday Wednesday.

The Tri-State Flood Tracker gauges water levels in real time.

The head of the MTA says the city's transit system is experiencing the “worst devastation" it has seen in its 108-year history. All seven subway tunnels were flooded with salt water.

Buses are running on city streets again, but New Yorkers will have to be creative with their commutes.

This MTA video of flooding in the South Ferry subway station demonstrates how hard the subway system has been hit.

NJ Transit says it's suffering “unprecedented damage” and "there is no estimate for service restoration" at this time.

Amtrak service to New York is hampered by flooding in the Hudson River tunnels.

Check out some photos from the storm and its aftermath.

Storify: WNYC wants your dispatches from the field.

Read how climate change is imperiling transit.

Follow us on Twitter to stay current on the aftermath of the storm. We're also posting photos to Tumblr.

New York's MTA just released a startling video of the extent of the flooding at the South Ferry - Whitehall station, located at the southern tip of Manhattan.

The station recently underwent a $530 million overhaul. When it reopened in 2009, it created a new connection between the 1 train to and N/R line and was the first new subway station in the city to open in 20 years.

Below, for comparison, a photo of the station pre-Hurricane Sandy.

10:11am: A beheaded subway entrance. (photo by Jim O'Grady)

UPDATE: Tuesday 4:50 PM: The MTA's Charles Seaton says not all bus routes will be running Wednesday morning, that limited routes will be running. Those will be announced later Tuesday evening.

UPDATE Tuesday 11:50 AM: The latest on MTA and NYC transpo is always at our Transit Tracker.

Some bus service will begin at 5 p.m. on a Sunday schedule.

There is no timetable yet for subway service resumption. Governor Andrew Cuomo and MTA Chairman Joe Lhota said in a joint press conference Tuesday morning they hope to have full bus service restored Wednesday morning. No fares will be charged through Wednesday.

Portions of subway service will return in pieces as it is able. Buses will be used to connect fractured sections.

Flooding could keep east river crossings shut for some time. The Clark, Steinway, Rutgers and Strawberry Street tubes under the East River are all flooded. Lhota said pumps are clearing the Joralemon Street tube and will have it dry in a few hours.

No buses or trains were damaged because of effective shut down preparations. Assessment of the extent of the damage on the tracks "will take a little bit more time than we thought," Lhota said.

Lhotoa said flooding at the South Street subway station was "literally up to the ceiling."

Pumping is underway in the Battery Tunnel.

Metro-North has no power from 59th Street to Croton.

POSTED Tuesday 9:05 AM: MTA chair Joe Lhota spoke to WNYC's Soterios Johnson Monday morning about the extent of the damage to the subway system. Listen to the interview below, and read the partial transcript of his remarks.

Lhota said he knew last night there was a problem. "Last night I was downtown and it was pretty obvious...I saw the water surge coming up, realizing that the systems were going to be affected. Our electrical systems, our alarm systems, tell us when there's water down there. They basically shut off. It's an automatic system...they would only shut off if there was water down there."

Johnson asked Lhota just how bad the flooding was. "The assessment is ongoing. Dawn is just cracking right now," Lhota said, adding that the sunlight would help with the assessment process, "which is going to be ongoing. We'll report back to New Yorkers later in the day as to what we have assessed, and determine how long it's going to take to get the system back up and running. One thing I do want everyone to focus on is the fact of how dynamic and how robust the New York City subway system is." And New Yorkers need to understand: "We're going to be flexible, we're going to try to be creative. Those systems that can be up and running, those portions of the system that can be up and running -- I want them up and running as quickly as possible. Then use our bus service and our buses -- re-route them in such a way that they supplement and complement each other. And that's what I mean by creativity: if there's a portion of  the system that's going to take longer to repair, that doesn't mean the whole system is down...we're New Yorkers, we adapt very very well."

Johnson asked if salt water had flooded the subways. "I can't imagine that it's fresh water, it's going to be at best brackish, but for the most part it's salt," Lhota said. "Water and electricity never mix properly, but when you add salt to it, once the water is gone, the salt leaves a film...the way electronics work on the subway system is two pieces of metal running together conducting electricity. And it there's anything in between those two pieces of metal -- like film left over from salt -- that needs to be cleaned off because the connections need to be clear and straightforward for us to manage the process of making the subway system safe."

Johnson asked Lhota what his worst-case scenario for restoration of subway service. "I literally can't answer that until later today," Lhota said. "his happened overnight, it's been ongoing, the assessment's been ongoing, and we've called...all of our workers backs." "Are we talking days or weeks?" asked Johnson. "It's unfair to me -- I'm going to  try to get this up and running as quickly as I possibly can," said Lhota. "I really don't want to be tied down to answering that question the way you've asked it because it'll be something that will linger out there...it would be a scientific wild guess on my part to answer it that way and I just need to get better information and then determine it."

As to when the bridges and tunnels will be open: "I literally just sent a text message to Pat Foye, the head of the Port Authority," said Lhota. "He and I need to figure out how to open up the bridges, how to open up the tunnels. The wind has calmed down significantly...the tunnels, if they're dry, the assessment can be relatively straightforward. [But] the bridges, given the extent of the wind, we're going to need a couple hours having the engineers assess that there's no damage to any of the bridges. We experienced at the Triborough - RFK bridge wind gusts over 100 miles an hour last night. That's extraordinary. We've got to make sure that the integrity of the bridge is there. I'm confident that it is, but out of an abundance of caution we're going to need at least two hours for our engineers to go through and assess to make sure that the bridges are safe. I think they're safe -- in fact I'm almost positive they're safe -- but out of an abundance of caution, we will do the work we need to do."

Johnson asked about the Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road commuter rail lines. "First off," said Lhota, "we're trying to count the number of trees that are downed on Metro North and it's going to be in the hundreds...we're going up in a helicopter today to assess the entire system from the air to determine where we have our problems. The Long Island Rail Road experienced an enormous amount of flooding all through the South Shore, the Babylon branch all the way out to ...Montauk. We're assessing that right now and will determine how far we can go." He continued: "I am very worried about power....the power is a problem. It's an electric subway system for the most part. Some of our commuter rail system is electric as well, some it's diesel, or a combination...we need electricity to run. So this power problem in the tri-state area is significant for getting us up and running on the commuter rail front...the power on Metro North is down from 59th Street in Manhattan all the way up to Croton-Harmon on the Hudson line, all the way up to New Haven, Connecticut on the New Haven line. We have no power on the system at this time."

In terms of the actual conditions of the rails: "We're going to have to evaluate it," Lhota said. "We're going to have to walk ths system to determine the extent of it and we're also going to have to cut up all the trees that are in the way and get them out of the way."

With reporting by Alex Goldmark

We’ll be updating this throughout the day. Send your photos to transponation@gmail.com or @transportnation.  ‘Cause we’d like to share them.

1:3opm: broken traffic light at King Street and Varick Street in lower Manhattan (photo by Kate Hinds)

10:27: from Jim O'Grady: "World Trade Center. Cop said PATH station flooded, didn't know how badly. My guess: badly."

10:11am: A beheaded subway entrance. (photo by Jim O'Grady)

10:11am: Staten Island Railway's Clifton Shop in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. (Photo by MTA via flickr)

9:55am: flooding at the entrance to the Hugh L. Carey (formerly Brooklyn Battery) Tunnel, via @NYGovCuomo

9:49am: Downed tree in Tribeca park (photo by Jim O'Grady)

8:14am: Rainbows over Brooklyn (photo by Andrea Bernstein)

MTA head Joe Lhota at New York City Transit president Tom Prendergast inspecting flooding at the Battery. (Photo courtesy of MTA/Adam Lisberg)

(UPDATED with Lhota's comments on WNYC radio at 7:40 a.m.) The head of the New York MTA, Joe Lhota, has released the following statement -- which, as of this writing, is on the front page of the MTA's website.

"The New York City subway system is 108 years old, but it has never faced a disaster as devastating as what we experienced last night. Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on our entire transportation system, in every borough and county of the region. It has brought down trees, ripped out power and inundated tunnels, rail yards and bus depots. As of last night, seven subway tunnels under the East River flooded. Metro-North Railroad lost power from 59th Street to Croton-Harmon on the Hudson Line and to New Haven on the New Haven Line. The Long Island Rail Road evacuated its West Side Yards and suffered flooding in one East River tunnel. The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel is flooded from end to end and the Queens Midtown Tunnel also took on water and was closed. Six bus garages were disabled by high water. We are assessing the extent of the damage and beginning the process of recovery. Our employees have shown remarkable dedication over the past few days, and I thank them on behalf of every New Yorker. In 108 years, our employees have never faced a challenge like the one that confronts us now. All of us at the MTA are committed to restoring the system as quickly as we can to help bring New York back to normal."

Speaking Tuesday morning on WNYC radio, Lhota said that he wouldn't wait for the entire system to be operational before putting subway lines back into service -- hinting that the city could be looking phased-in service. But when asked when he thought the subways might be running, he wouldn't be pinned down. "It would be a scientific wild guess" to put a time on it before the true extent of the damage is ascertained, he said.

We'll be following this situation closely. More when we have it.

Brooklyn Heights Monday night (photo by Sherief Elkatsha)

The entrance to the downtown 1 train at Broadway and 79th Street (photo by Kate Hinds)

(With reporting from Alex Goldmark and Andrea Bernstein) Earlier Monday, the head of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that salt water from the East River would put the city's subway system “in jeopardy.”

So when word went out earlier Monday night -- from the agency's official Twitter feed -- that the doomsday scenario of salt water flooding the system could be coming to pass, New Yorkers feared the worst.

The tweet: "Up to four feet of seawater is entering subway tunnels under the East River."

But now the authority says that was an error -- and it can't ascertain the condition of the tunnels right now. From a tweet just before 9:30pm: "Correction: Condition of under river tunnels unknown. Up to four feet of water was observed at a Lower Manhattan station."

Salt water could corrode the subway's signal system. And even after water is pumped out of a flooded station, salt deposits remain behind. The MTA says these damaged signal systems can't always be cleaned in the field and sometimes they must be replaced outright.

The subway system was shut down Sunday at 7pm. The mayor said earlier Monday that it would not be up and running by Tuesday morning, which gives the authority more time to determine the condition of the system.

The MTA says the pumps for clearing water from the stations are running on generators, not dependent on Con Ed -- one piece of luck for the agency, given the power outages in the area.

We'll be updating this throughout the storm. Send your photos to transponation@gmail.com or @transportnation.  'Cause we'd like to share them.

The entrance to the downtown 1 train at Broadway and 79th Street (photo by Kate Hinds)

Bike delivery workers still on the job as of 3:30 pm on Amsterdam Avenue (photo by Kate Hinds)

Bicycling in a hurricane on Columbus Avenue (photo by Kate Hinds)

from @DriversWantedNY: "NYC: subway is closed,airport is closed,but TAXIS r open.Raza working since 4am & now taking a $1bus home."

Photo from @DavidKesting

A tree fell on NYC Council member Brad Lander's Brooklyn home. (via @BradLander at 5:43pm)

From the NY MTA: Metro-North Railroad runs patrol trains to survey its tracks during and after storms. As Hurricane Sandy approached, this train struck a tree across the tracks and was briefly halted. (photo courtesy of MTA Metro-North Railroad)

Hatches are battened down at the South Street Seaport. Monday afternoon. (Photo by Alex Goldmark)

from NY Governor Cuomo's twitter account at 4:46pm: severe conditions at Rockaway, waves slamming into the bay wall.

Large floating debris and white caps under the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, Monday afternoon. (Photo by Alex Goldmark)

Rising water at Harlem River Park (photo by @HessMatthias)

Clinton Hill Rooftop overlooking The Brooklyn Navy Yard. (Photo by Jamie Boud)

The Hudson River at 3:30pm Monday (photo by Kate Hinds)

Entrance to the Holland Tunnel, 2:30 pm (photo by Richard Yeh)

The Croton River Bridge at about 1:15pm. It carries Metro-North Railroad's Hudson Line over the Croton River. Water has risen up to the level of the bridge. (Photo courtesy of MTA Metro-North Railroad / Robert Stinson)

The Island Park LIRR station tracks already largely under water as of 1pm Monday (photo by Alfonso Castillo via flickr)

Battery Park, 12:22pm Monday (photo by Jim O'Grady)

The flooded FDR Drive at noon Monday (photo by Caitlyn Kim)

Another view of flooding on the FDR Drive (photo by Caitlyn Kim)

Wait -- is that an MTA bus?? Never mind, it's for the police. (Photo by Caitlyn Kim)

Atlantic City (photo via @Mouselink)

A runway at JFK Airport in Queens, with water encroaching (photo courtesy of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey)

The view from Battery Park at 11:40am Monday: Statue of Liberty, rising waters (photo by Jim O'Grady)

The Broad Street subway station in lower Manhattan, sealed up (photo by Jim O'Grady)

Transit officers Romaniello and Wright in front of a sandbagged subway station (photo by Jim O'Grady)

The PATH station at the World Trade Center. The whole system is shut down. (Photo by Jim O'Grady)

(photo by Jim O'Grady)

An inflatable 'bladder" at the entrance to an office building (photo by Jim O'Grady)

Sandbags in front of the New York Stock Exchange (photo by Jim O'Grady)

More sandbags outside the Stock Exchange (photo by Jim O'Grady)

The Williamsburg Bridge on Monday morning -- light traffic, some bikes (photo by Jim O'Grady)

Sign taped to an M79 bus on Sunday (photo by Kate Hinds)

The Bronx Bees hives were getting ready for the storm on Sunday (photo via @BronxBees)

Manhattan's 79th Street Boat Basin, Sunday afternoon (photo by Kate Hinds)

The Williamsburg Bridge at 7:15am this morning -- light car traffic, intrepid bikers (photo by Jim O'Grady)

For the second time in 14 months (remember Irene?), New York City has shut down its transit system. What else is shut down? See our Transit Tracker here.

Grand Central Terminal is closed (photo by Aaron Donovan/MTA)

Washington D.C has also closed the Metro. (WAMU)

Thousands of flights have been cancelled through Tuesday. (Wall Street Journal)

Capital Bikeshare is closed, and Boston's Hubway will be shut down by 10am today.

@AirlineFlyer tweet summing up road conditions: When was the last time traffic was all green in NYC on a Monday?

For more pictures of how the hurricane is affecting New York, check out TN's tumblr.

Other headlines:
The really frightening thing about Halloween: an increase in child pedestrian deaths. (USA Today)

Are bike lanes interfering with bus traffic in Park Slope, Brooklyn? (New York Post)

In an effort to curb drunk driving, Scotland is preparing to lower the maximum permitted blood-alcohol limit. (BBC)

Citing rock throwing attacks, DC's Metro may end nighttime bus service on two Anacostia bus lines. But: "Caught in the middle are residents who live in the heart of the city’s poorest ward and who depend on bus service." (Washington Post)

Chrysler is ramping up SUV production. (Marketplace)

Taxi apps are facing cold shoulders from many city agencies. (Wall Street Journal)

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Top stories on TN:
NY MTA Chief Talks Fare Hikes & Why President Reagan Was A Hero Of Mass Transit (link)
New Laws On the Books for NYC’s Commercial Cyclists (link)
Denver Bike Share Membership Almost 90% White (link)
“We Command You:” NJ Pol Hits Port Authority Execs With Subpoenas (link)

Tappan Zee Bridge (photo by Buck Lewis via flicrk)

One building team has taken the lead to design and construct the Tappan Zee Bridge. (Wall Street Journal)

The FBI is investigating the authority responsible for overseeing the $5.6 billion Dulles Rail project. (Washington Post)

In a landmark ruling, the Delhi High Court is advancing the idea that a developed country is one in which rich people use public transport. (New York Times/India Ink)

Bronx buses will get real-time arrival information by the end of this month. (New York Daily News)

Thanks to a near-tripling of people flying between Central Florida and Latin America, Orlando was one of the three fastest-growing major markets for international air travelers during the past eight years. (Orlando Sentinel)

Energy independence is not a magic elixir that will drop gas prices like a stone -- just check out Canada. (Planet Money)

Pedestrian-friendly scaffolding (remember Urban Umbrella?) is making its Toronto debut. (Vancouver Sun)

An online and mobile parking meter company is raising its transaction fees in Washington, D.C., and blaming it on the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill. (The Hill)

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(photo by Ed Yourdon via flickr)

Mayor Bloomberg has signed off on a package of legislation designed to regulate the behavior of commercial cyclists.

The laws create civil penalties for businesses whose bicyclists fail to adhere to rules already on the books, like wearing reflective vests and helmets. It also requires commercial cyclists to complete a safety course, and revises the identification requirements for cyclists.

The New York City Council overwhelmingly passed the legislation earlier this month. The New York City Department of Transportation is currently going door-to-door to commercial businesses to make sure they understand the new requirements.

Starting in January, the DOT will begin issuing fines to businesses whose cyclists fail to comply with the new laws.

From the DOT's "commercial bicyclist safety" poster

A Denver bike share station (RTD photo)

Denver's bike share users are overwhelmingly white.

"Our demographic profile is nothing to be proud of , and we know that," said Parry Burnap, executive director of Denver's bike share program.

Speaking Thursday at the Designing Cities conference, Burnap displayed the results of a self-reported survey that found 89.9 percent of users are Caucasian, 4.7 percent are Hispanic, and 0.7 percent are African American.  According to Census statistics, 53 percent of Denver County residents are white non-Hispanic.

"We are mostly male, mostly white, mostly wealthy, mostly well educated,” she said. “Still, it's not a surprising early adopter profile."

Denver's findings are consistent with bike share programs in other cities. Earlier this year, a study found that whites are overrepresented in D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare.

Burnap said Denver's bike share program had yet to expand to lower income, more diverse neighborhoods, which are "separated from downtown by a river, a highway, and an industrial corridor."  Denver plans to install stations in more far-flung neighborhoods in order to reach more users.

Kate Fillin-Yeh, the director of New York's bike share program, said the city was taking steps to make sure its system reaches more users.

"We're working very closely with the [NYC] Housing Authority to find good locations on NYCHA campuses," she said, " and then using that as a way to start a conversation about creating a discount membership for NYCHA residents."

Under New York's plan, NYCHA residents would pay $60 for an annual membership. The undiscounted price is $95.

(UPDATED with Port Authority comment) A top New Jersey Democrat has issued subpoenas to four executives of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski, who chairs the state Assembly's Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities committee, said the agency has failed to adequately respond to repeated requests for information on toll increases, the cancellation of a trans-Hudson tunnel, and possible patronage hiring.

“We gave the Port Authority numerous chances to cooperate and time and time again it failed to adequately do so,” Wisniewski said. “The Port Authority is an out-of-control agency that has forgotten it serves the public. It would prefer to hide information on toll increases, the decision to halt the tunnel project and potential patronage, but it’s time to get straight answers. The Port Authority can no longer obfuscate. It must now finally respect the public.”

This is the latest skirmish in a series of rancorous exchanges between elected officials and Port executives. Last year, in the midst of a public outcry over toll and fare hikes at the agency’s bridges and tunnels, outside consultants took a detailed look at the authority and described a dysfunctional bureaucracy with a debt load that had more than doubled, due, in part, to ballooning redevelopment costs at the World Trade Center site. Also last year, the Automobile Association of America brought suit against the NY-NJ Port Authority, claiming it was using toll revenue to fund the WTC -- a charge the agency denies. That suit is still pending.

And this spring, a Senate hearing ostensibly about the fairness of the 2011 toll hike went off the rails when Port executive Bill Baroni went after New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg -- an ugly exchange that generated still more correspondence between Democrats and the agency.

Wisniewski's subpoenas were delivered to Patrick Foye, the Port's executive director; Bill Baroni; deputy executive director; Karen E. Eastman, board secretary; and Daniel D. Duffy, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey FOI administrator. According to the subpoena, they are required to respond by November 8.

Ron Marsico, a spokesman for the Port, said: “We have received the subpoenas and are reviewing them. In addition to previously turning over thousands of pages of documents to the Committee, the Port Authority’s finances were thoroughly reviewed by two international consulting firms.”

You can read one of the subpoenas here.

Top stories on TN:
NYC DOT Study: Street Redesign Good for the Economy (link)
California Greenhouse Gas Law Faces Challenge (link)
NY MTA: On Lettered Lines, Let PA System Be Your Countdown Clock (link)
New York Islanders Will Move to Brooklyn (link)

Winter in Amsterdam (photo by Lambert Wolterbeek Muller via flickr)

New York MTA head Joe Lhota will be on the Brian Lehrer Show this morning at 10am to talk about the new fare hike proposal... (WNYC)

...and probably this story: "By the end of the year, numbered-line riders will be able to get next-train arrival times by downloading a Metropolitan Transportation Authority app or going to the authority’s website." (New York Daily News)

A single speed camera in Washington D.C. has issued 116,734 tickets in 23 months. (Washington Post)

The world's longest passenger flight -- Singapore to Newark -- will end next year. (Telegraph)

To restructure its money-losing European operations, Ford is closing plants in the U.K. and Belgium. (Detroit Free Press)

A plan to bring Metro-North trains to the East Bronx faces opposition from Long Island politicians, who want to guard LIRR slots at Penn Station. (DNA Info)

Automated speed cameras have caught hundreds of Baltimore-area school buses speeding near the schools they serve. (Baltimore Sun)

Milwaukee may bring back streetcars. (Chicago Tribune)

Shades of Google: automaker Daimler accidentally released quarterly earnings a day early, then hastily sent out an email asking the media to "please ignore." (Detroit News; Reuters)

Towns in the Netherlands are considering heating their bike lanes to prevent snow and ice from accumulating. (BBC)

On the ballot on Alameda County (CA): a sales tax measure that "would generate a projected $7.8 billion over the next 30 years for projects selected using a “complete streets” approach aimed at improving the county’s streets, trails, and transit infrastructure to accommodate all modes of transportation." (Streetsblog SF)

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Union Square's pedestrian plaza (photo by Kate Hinds)

New York City's Department of Transportation says redesigned streets have been very, very good to small businesses.

A new report says that retail sales are up along city streets that have bike paths, pedestrian plazas, slow zones, or select bus service.

In some cases, the increase is dramatic: on Brooklyn's Pearl Street, where the DOT maintains retail sales have increased by 172 percent since a parking triangle was turned into a pedestrian plaza.

In Measuring the Street, the DOT lays out metrics for evaluating street redesign projects. These include benchmarks like injuries, traffic speed and volume. And now it includes retail sales data along redesigned routes.

The report casts the city's street redesign in a favorable light just as hundreds of planners descend on the city for the Designing Cities conference, happening this week at New York University.

"For the first time, we have years of retail sales that were reported to the Department of Finance, and we were able to look at that data and apply it directly to the SBS corridors, the bike lane projects, etc.," said DOT commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.

Sadik-Khan ticked off a list of streets that she said economically benefited from being overhauled.

"On Fordham Road [in the Bronx], we saw the growth in the retail sales by local businesses -- and these are not chain stores -- grow 71 percent following the introduction of the SBS route there in 2008, which is three times the borough-wide growth rate."

The report says that along Ninth Avenue, retail sales are up 49 percent -- sixteen times the borough growth rate -- three years after that street's protected bike lane went in. Manhattan's Union Square, which was revamped in 2010, reports a lower commercial vacancy rate.

Sadik-Khan said the reason for increased sales is straightforward: if you build it, the people will come.

And presumably those people have wallets.

"We've seen anywhere between a 10 to 15 percent increase in ridership on all the SBS bus routes," Sadik-Khan said, "amid a citywide decline of 5 percent on bus routes."  She said more riders along a route means more people getting on and off the bus, which means more foot traffic.

The DOT looked at sales tax records reported to the city's Department of Finance. The data excludes large chain stores and non-retail businesses.

Top stories on TN:
TSA Removes X-Ray Body Scanners From Major Airports (link)
As Gov’t Considers Regulations, Autonomous Cars Boosters Show Off Plans (link)

An oil drilling platform off the California coast (photo by Mike Baird via flickr)

U.S. oil output is surging so fast that the United States could soon overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest producer. (AP via Wall Street Journal)

How the auto bailout could play in the swing states: it could matter in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida. (Jalopnik)

Why isn't the issue of climate change coming up during the presidential campaign? (IAFC/WNYC)

New York's bike share kiosks are in preview mode at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. (Streetsblog)

Despite significant investments in transit and bike systems, the overall number of trips taken in automobiles in the Portland metro area has barely decreased in the past two decades. (The Oregonian)

A New Jersey court ruled that defense attorneys aren't entitled to inspect or photograph the rooms where police administer breath tests to motorists suspected of driving while intoxicated. (Star-Ledger)

From the files of Life magazine: photos of New York City's subway system from 1942-1969. (Time)

And: former Miss Subways pose for the cameras in a new exhibit at New York's Transit Museum. (Capital New York)

New York State Police officials say troopers will be the first law enforcement officers in the nation to receive special training in responding to crashes involving electric vehicles. (AP via North Country Public Radio)

How does fracking work? Marketplace made a video explainer: