Kate Hinds

The MTA's Chuck Gordanier, holding up the Hurricane Sandy Recovery Service subway map (photo by Kate Hinds)

If you looked at the MTA’s website in the days following Hurricane Sandy, you probably saw a subway map (pdf) that wasn’t what most straphangers were used to.

To protect New York City’s subway system, all transit shut down in advance of the storm. But then the under-river subway tunnels flooded, and the MTA had to convey to riders what was and wasn’t running.

That’s Chuck Gordanier's job, and he began booting up his Mac before the storm even ended.

He’s a manager at the transit agency. His task was -- and is -- to quickly translate the continuous service changes into a stripped-down map. So he began subtracting subway lines and stations. At first he thought the result was almost too harsh.

"But then once I saw this I thought ‘hey, that kind of fits the mood, doesn’t it?’" he said. "So I just kept stripping it down, taking everything off. The ferries weren’t going, why should they be there? The parks were closed, remember? So why should the parks be there? So I just took out everything that wasn’t actually happening and ended up with this."

The map, shown on screen in Adobe Illustrator. (Photo by Kate Hinds)

'This' is the subway recovery map, and it’s a stark contrast to the normal one. No perks, like neighborhood names, landmarks, or even the street grid. Just colored lines on a gray and white background showing what’s operational, and shaded out lines showing what isn’t. Gordanier’s been working 14-hour days to keep the map current. As in: power’s been restored to lower Manhattan? Color in the 1 train. The Joralemon Tunnel’s been pumped dry? Color in the four and five. Lather, rinse, repeat.

A list of the dozens of changes Gordanier made to the subway map since Hurricane Sandy. (Photo by Kate Hinds)

"When I had it done," he said, "and it was right, then we’d put it on the website right away and we’d roll out a quickie print version to post." Gordanier says it’s a matter of turning on and off some of the 50-plus layers that make up the map. He demonstrates how to power up the G line. "First I've got to find the G train layer," he said, clicking the mouse to unlock it. "There’s the G train--see that, 30 percent? Boing. There it is. Full strength."

(He got to do that for real Wednesday, when it began running again.)

Gordanier says he’ll keep updating the MTA’s subway recovery service map until things get back to normal. Until then, it’s a work in progress.

"Today, later," he said, "it will probably be different."

Example: two hours before this story aired on WNYC, the MTA restored full service on the L line.

Watch the return of subway service below.
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WNYC's Data News team has turned the city's post-Sandy recovery into a time-lapse GIF. Click through for the full image.

Top stories on TN:
Analysis: Did Cars Save President Obama? (link)
Amtrak, NJ Transit Tunnels Are Dry, More Penn Station Trains Can Roll on Friday (link)
VIDEO: How To Drain and Repair a Flooded Subway Tunnel (link)
Bay Area Transit Tax Hangs By a Thread (link)

Nor'easter snow in NYC, 11/7/12 (photo by Kate Hinds)

It's unlikely that the election results will unstick political transportation gridlock: "The dynamic for transportation in the House will be little changed except for possibly an even more conservative tilt to the body, which could complicate efforts to push through the next transportation bill." (Politico)

Los Angeles's Measure J, the proposed 30-year extension of a half-cent transportation sales tax in Los Angeles County, failed to receive the two-thirds majority needed to pass during Tuesday's election. (Los Angeles Times)

Find more ballot initiative outcomes over at Atlantic Cities.

The mayor of Troy, Michigan -- who had opposed taking federal money for a regional transit center-- was ousted from office in a recall election. (Crain's Detroit)

New York City riders turned out by the dozens -- not hundreds -- to oppose an MTA fare hike. (New York Daily News)

A Nor'easter brought more misery to New York and New Jersey. (Star-Ledger)

Houston's Metro must continue to share transit tax revenues with other municipalities to pay for roads and bridges. (KUHF)

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the credit rating on bonds issued by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority due to the transit system’s sluggish operating performance and reliance on stagnant state sales tax revenue. (Boston Business Journal)

Everyone wants to know whether Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will stay on for a second term or not. (The Hill)

Airlines were grounding about a thousand flights while waiting for Wednesday's storm. But good luck getting an insurer to cover those losses, said one aviation consultant. (Marketplace)

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Hurricane Sandy flooded all eight under-river subway tunnels in New York (nine if you count the G train, which runs under the Newtown Creek). The last one to have been pumped dry is the L train's 14th Street tunnel, which runs under the East River between Manhattan and Queens and cuts through the population-accreting neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Bushwick, Brooklyn.

The MTA has said restoring L service is its highest priority. On Wednesday, it released a video of workers repairing tracks and signals. Watch it below.

Earlier this week, MTA chairman Joe Lhota described for WNYC the process of restoring service on flooded lines. Workers, he said, are “cleaning [signals] by hand, literally. First you had to pump out the water, then you had to wipe down the mud that was left down there, then you had to literally wipe down the rail, and then fix each and every one of the switches by cleaning them and making sure there was no salt to prevent the electric conductivity.”

You can listen to that interview here.

The L train tunnel on the afternoon of Monday, November 5. (Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Patrick Cashin)

The New York City region will be experiencing another 'weather event' Wednesday and Thursday. From City Hall:

"A significant storm is forecast to impact New York City today from approximately mid-day Wednesday through Thursday morning. Although only an inch of rain is forecast, sustained winds will reach 25 to 40 miles per hour, with gusts up from 55 to 65 miles per hour. The wind will cause a storm surge ranging from 3 to 5 feet at high tide Wednesday afternoon, with the highest surge levels forecast for the Western Long Island sound; surge levels are forecast to be slightly lower at high tide Wednesday night.

"The City is taking significant precautions in advance of the storm, including halting all construction, closing all City parks, encouraging drivers to stay off the road after 5:00 PM, or to use extreme caution if they have to drive and employing door to door operations to urge people without heat to take shelter to stay warm."

Expect flight cancellations and delays.

We'll be keeping our Transit Tracker updated; check back frequently for any updates. You can check out area flood gauges below.

Top stories on TN:
Holland Tunnel to Reopen to All Car Traffic Wednesday; LIRR Restores Montauk Service (link)
Storm-Hobbled NJ Transit Bulging with Above-Average Ridership (link)
Climate Change Scientist: I Was Right About Subway Tunnel Flooding, Hurricane Damage (link)
More NYC Subway Service Restored, Voter Shuttle Routes and Updates on A, B, G, L Trains (link)
Virginia Homeowners Fight 95 Express Lanes Ramp (link)

Los Angeles Metro (photo by tracktwentynine via flickr)

An anti-rail candidate failed to win the mayoral race in Honolulu... (AP via This Garden Island)

...and if he'd won, he said he'd kill a $5 billion commuter rail project. (Marketplace)

Republican John Mica, the chair of the House Transportation Committee, won reelection. (Orlando Sentinel)

Los Angeles County voters appeared to be favoring a 30-year extension of a half-cent transportation sales tax, but it's still too close to call. (Los Angeles Times)

And Durham-area voters approved a transit sales tax expected to generate about $5 million a year for buses, an Amtrak station in Hillsborough and a proposed light rail connection from UNC to downtown. (Herald- Sun)

A light-rail referendum passed in Virginia Beach. (WAVY)

Riders on Manhattan's L and G subway lines feel left behind. (New York Times)

Technically, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has always been in charge of NYC's transit system. But now he might be finally taking ownership of it. (Capital NY)

Bike share will come to Columbus, Ohio, in June 2013. (NBC4i)

Anaheim is moving forward on plans for a 3.2 mile streetcar system. (Los Angeles Times)

Prices on London's bike share will double to support its expansion. (Telegraph)

Airlines are cancelling flights in advance of another storm in the Northeast. (AP via Crain's New York)

DC's Metro still has no explanation for why it closed early last weekend -- the same day clocks were set back an hour. (Washington Post)

New braking technology -- stereo cameras mounted on a car windshield -- can automatically stop a car from hitting a pedestrian. (Wired/Autopia)

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The shuttered Holland Tunnel on 10/30/12 (photo by Kate Hinds)

The Holland Tunnel will open to all traffic Wednesday morning at 5am.

This marks the first time the tunnel will be fully open since Hurricane Sandy struck the region. The tunnel, which runs under the Hudson River between New Jersey and lower Manhattan, was flooded and remained closed to traffic until last Friday, when a bus lane opened in one tube.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced the opening via Twitter and a press release; it was also confirmed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns and operates the tunnel.

The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (now known as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel) remains closed due to flooding.

The MTA also announced Tuesday that it's restoring service on the Long Island Rail Road's Montauk Branch between Speonk and Montauk, and will establish bus service between Island Park and Lynbrook.

The LIRR will provide bus service to operate between Island Park and Lynbrook from 6 AM until 9 PM starting Wednesday, November 7. A press release issued by the MTA says buses will make a loop between the LIRR’s Island Park and Lynbrook stations – making stops at Oceanside, East Rockaway, and Centre Avenue stations along the way. Train connections to and from the bus loop can be made at Lynbrook Station.

For more information, visit our Transit Tracker.

Top stories on TN:
Tuesday Commute: NY MTA, NJ Transit Update (link)
MTA Head Joe Lhota: How We Fixed the Flooded Subway (link)
Sandy Caused a Mini Bike Boom in NYC (link)
PATH Train Resumes Some Service Between NJ and NYC after Sandy (link)

Free fuel at the Hess Express on Bay St. in Staten Island Monday. The truck traveled from Lynchburg, VA (photo by Amy Pearl)

Perception of how high gas prices are depends on whether you're a Democrat or Republican. (Politico)

A roundup of local ballot measures on transit funding can be found at the Transport Politic.

Officials in New York and New Jersey are investigating complaints about price gouging post-Hurricane Sandy, and "the overwhelming majority are related to gas station issues." (WNYC)

And NYC cabbies are driving as far away as Connecticut to fill up. (DNA Info)

Toyota and other Japanese carmakers are reporting lower sales in China due to the two nations' dispute over the Diayu Islands. (Marketplace)

Suzuki is filing for bankruptcy and will end sales of all cars in the U.S. (Detroit Free Press)

So much for 'spring ahead, fall back:' DC's Metro forgot about the time change last weekend and shut down the lines an hour early -- stranding would-be riders. (Atlantic Cities, Washington Post)

Maryland is pushing ahead on plans for a $2.2 billion light rail project known as the Red Line. (Baltimore Sun)

How much will it cost to repair the NYC subway system? Let's just go with "substantial." (Wall Street Journal)

A British woman has failed that country's written driver's test 105 times. (Telegraph)

A woman caught on camera driving on a sidewalk to avoid a Cleveland school bus that was unloading children will have to stand at an intersection wearing a sign warning about idiots. (AP via Washington Post)

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Subway alert on 11/5/12 (photo by Kate Hinds)

For your Tuesday New York-New Jersey commute, some updated information from the MTA and NJ Transit. The press releases are below.

1. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has restored additional subway, bus and commuter rail services in time for the Tuesday morning rush hour. Sections of the A, B and C Trains Will Reopen For Tuesday Morning Rush

Service on the A train will be restored in upper Manhattan to the 207 St station. That will allow service on the C train to be extended to the 168 St station. The B train will begin running between Bedford Park Boulevard in the Bronx and Kings Highway in Brookyn. The Q train will extend service from 57 St – 7 Av in Manhattan to Brighton Beach in Brookyn.

There was significant crowding Monday morning on the 1-2-3 trains on the West Side of Manhattan. MTA New York City Transit is studying ways to adjust signals for the 1 train in lower Manhattan that will allow them to turn around faster, improving the frequency of service and reducing crowding.

The top subway priority is now restoring service on the G and L trains through northwest Brooklyn, where alternate service on the J and M trains was extremely crowded. The G tunnel under Newtown Creek has been pumped out but extensive work remains to repair the signal system. The L tunnel under the East River is still being pumped. NYCT will run extra buses on the B62 route to offer additional service through the area.

Queens Midtown Tunnel Opens For Rush Hour Buses
MTA Bridges and Tunnels will open one lane of the Queens Midtown Tunnel for buses only during rush hour Tuesday. One lane of the south tube will be open for Manhattan-bound buses from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and for Queens-bound buses from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. The tunnel will be closed to traffic at all other times.

The Queens Midtown Tunnel was flooded with storm surge and sustained significant damage to its mechanical systems that must be repaired. No timetable has been established to reopen the tunnel to general traffic.

The Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, formerly known as the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, was also flooded by storm surge. Pumping operations continue at the tunnel and there is no timetable for reopening it.

MTA Voter Shuttle
The MTA will provide special “MTA Voter Shuttle” buses Tuesday on Staten Island, in Coney Island and in the Rockaways to carry voters from damaged polling places to alternate sites established by the Board of Elections.

The free MTA Voter Shuttles will run in 15- to 20-minute intervals from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. to help voters, particularly those displaced by the storm, get to polling stations. They are in addition to other scheduled bus service in the affected areas.

MTA buses will also be dispatched to carry Board of Elections polling station workers from the Queens headquarters in Kew Gardens to their newly assigned polling stations in the three areas.

Long Island Rail Road
The MTA Long Island Rail Road will restore train service between Ronkonkoma and Riverhead on Tuesday, with connecting bus service from Riverhead to Greenport. The LIRR continues to operate a modified schedule on all branches except the Long Beach branch, and east of Speonk on the Montauk branch.

The LIRR’s modified service is required since two of Amtrak’s four East River tunnels are out of service from flooding associated with Hurricane Sandy. Modified service will be restored to Hunterspoint Avenue and trains will be added between Freeport and Atlantic Terminal.

Because service will be limited, waits will be longer and trains will be more crowded.  In the evening rush hour, customers should expect crowded conditions in Penn Station.  Customers are advised to stagger work hours and travel in off-peak hours, if possible, to help reduce crowding in the peak periods.

MTA chairman Joe Lhota (L) speaking with an MTA worker. (Photo by MTA via flickr)

Listen to the conversation with WNYC's Amy Eddings below.

(New York, NY) Just one week after Hurricane Sandy turned New York City's subway tunnels into something out of Waterworld, service is back up and running on almost every line. But how?

MTA chairman Joe Lhota told WNYC the credit belonged to the agency's employees. "The workers of the Transit Authority...I will tell you I've never seen a bunch of people work so hard to get the system back up and running."

And here's how they did it: "They've been cleaning [signals] by hand, literally," he said. "First you had to pump out the water, then you had to wipe down the mud that was left down there, then you had to literally wipe down the rail, and then fix each and every one of the switches by cleaning them and making sure there was no salt to prevent the electric conductivity."

Lhota said after that process, the MTA then powered up the system and ran test trains before resuming service.

"We're making progress every day," he said, adding that the rest of the lines would be operating "soon."

"That's our intent, to be able to...get the L later in the week, get the G later in the week, getting all the other trains later in the week. We want to get the #1 train eventually down to Rector Street, we'll try to do that by the middle of the week...inch by inch, rail by rail, we're going to get there," he said on WNYC radio.

Later in the conversation Lhota told WNYC's Amy Eddings -- who relies on the G train to get to work: "You'll get the G soon. Can't tell you exactly when, but you'll get the G real soon."

What probably will take a little longer: retooling New York city's infrastructure to withstand future floods. "There are some more substantive things that need to be done," said Lhota, and "not just for the subway system...it should be a concerted effort on the part of the city and the state and taking the best minds in the architectural world and the water mitigation world and figure out what exactly can we do to prevent this from happening again?"

Any effort to prevent flooding, he said, "It's not just going to be limited to the subways. It shouldn't be."

Want to know what's running and what's not? Check our Transit Tracker.

South Orange commuters waiting in line for a bus (photo by Nancy Solomon)

(With reporting from Nancy Solomon) New Jersey commuters, many of whom still don't have power at home, struggled Monday morning to get to work. Gas is still in short supply, and New Jersey Transit's rail lines are only running limited service due to the "devastating damage" inflicted by Hurricane Sandy. The agency has set up emergency park-and-ride service and is using buses to get people into New York. But the wait time can be crushing: in South Orange, along the shuttered Midtown Direct line, train commuters waited two hours for buses.

The Department of Transportation says it's sending 350 buses to the state to fill in where commuter rail service has been disrupted. "The good news for commuters," writes Secretary Ray LaHood, "is that seventy of those buses will arrive ready for service this afternoon in New Jersey and many more will arrive throughout the week." Philadelphia's transit agency (SEPTA) has also sent 31 buses.

A spokeswoman for New Jersey Transit says the agency is trying to cope with multiple challenges and that it is difficult to add express bus service into New York.

For a slideshow of NJ Transit's storm damage, go here.

(image courtesy of UMTRI)

The average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the U.S. last month was 24.1 mpg--the highest level since the UMTRI began tracking it in 2007.

The University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute calculates that number based on vehicle sales and the "window sticker" number, which is verified by the EPA.

The UMTRI notes their numbers have been corrected to reflect changes in ratings for Hyundai and Kia models. Earlier this month, an EPA audit found that those car makers had overstated gas mileage.

For more, see the UMTRI's report here.

Top stories on TN:
Line By Line: Here’s What’s Running For Monday’s Commute: MTA Subways, Buses, LIRR, Metro North, NJ Transit (link)
Or check out our Transit Tracker (link)
Cuomo: Subway Service “Will Not Be Normal” Monday (link)
PHOTOS: The Last Ride for Shuttle Atlantis (link)
Subway Flooding Predicted, Eerily Matches Climate Change Model (link)
Why Sandy Emergency Aid Is for Roads, Not Subways, Buses: Congress (link)

Post-Sandy docks at the 79th Street Boat Basin, on the Manhattan side of the Hudson River (photo by Kate Hinds)

Sandy:
Philadelphia's transit system is loaning 31 buses to NJ Transit. (Star-Ledger)

And it can use them: NJ Transit had 257 rail cars and 65 engines -- 23 percent and 35 percent of its totals, respectively -- ruined or damaged by Sandy. (Bloomberg)

Oyster-studded barriers and mossy wetlands fringes: can "soft" infrastructure protect New York from the next storm? (New York Times)

On Sunday, 27% of gas stations in the New York metropolitan area did not have gasoline available for sale -- a decrease from 38% Saturday. (U.S. Energy Information Agency)

Other news:
Why isn't transportation a hot campaign topic? Because neither candidate has a good idea how to pay for what needs to be done. (Washington Post via AP)

Parkmobile, the pay-by-phone parking contractor in Washington, is apologizing after it blamed a recent fee hike on federal financial regulations. (WAMU)

The Twin Cities' bike share program had a record year. (MPR)

Some Los Angelenos opposed to a transit tax say the cost of running new rail lines ahead of schedule will leave Metro no choice but to sharply hike fares, reduce bus lines or both. (Los Angeles Times)

Hyundai and Kia overstated the gas mileage on most of their models from the past three years in an embarrassing blunder that could bring sanctions from the U.S. government and millions of dollars in payments to car owners. (WBEZ)

Meet Stroller Cat: a controversial feline who regularly makes the rounds on the Boston T. (Boston Herald)

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Waiting on line to pay cash for gas to fill gas cans at the Hess station on Union St. and 4th Ave. in Brooklyn (photo by Amy Pearl)

To ease widespread gas shortages in the Northeast, the federal government has temporarily lifted a restriction on foreign fuel tankers.

The Jones Act (pdf) -- formerly known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 -- was originally intended to ensure that the U.S. has a strong merchant marine during times of war. It also prohibits foreign ships from touching two U.S. ports consecutively -- meaning all goods that move between two domestic ports must do so on ships that are U.S. flagged and staffed.

The waiver means tankers that would otherwise be barred can immediately begin shipping petroleum products from the Gulf of Mexico to the Northeast.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, "it is either essential for national security or a vast barnacle on the hull of U.S. growth, depending on your point of view." Bob Parrish, the president of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, told TN the Jones Act is "really a deep subject that's been debated."

At a press conference Friday morning, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the waiver was necessary to speed delivery of fuel to area ports. Soon after, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement that read, in part: "As a result of impacts caused by Hurricane Sandy, today Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano issued a temporary, blanket waiver of the Jones Act to immediately allow additional oil tankers coming from the Gulf of Mexico to enter Northeastern ports, to provide additional fuel resources to the region...Secretary Napolitano's action immediately allows additional ships, that would otherwise be barred, to begin shipping petroleum products from the Gulf of Mexico to Northeastern ports, increasing the access to fuel in the storm damaged region."

Also on Friday, Cuomo signed an executive order allowing distributors and transporters to bring gasoline, diesel, and kerosene into New York without having to meet the usual registration requirements. "I don’t like to waive the tax, I don’t want to lose the money," he said, "but we do want to accelerate the flow of gasoline."

The waiver of the Jones Act lasts through November 13.

MTA head Joe Lhota stopped by the Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center station in Brooklyn on Friday morning to greet passengers waiting in line for the buses over the Manhattan Bridge.

Lines are long but from this video it looks like they were moving quickly.

The buses will be in place until subway service between the two boroughs is restored.

The first Staten Island Ferry since Sandy (photo courtesy of Bob Moses)

(UPDATED 11/2/12) The first Staten Island Ferry since Hurricane Sandy will depart at noon Friday, followed by half-hourly service in both directions.

New York City Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan had Transportation Nation Thursday: "I'm hopeful that by tomorrow afternoon, I'll be talking to you live from the ferry terminal."

The city shut down ferry operations in advance of Hurricane Irene. Although the fleet wasn't harmed in the storm, the docks suffered damage.

Sadik-Khan also said high-occupancy vehicle restrictions would remain in place through midnight Friday. "Then we'll revisit it," she said, pending restoration of subway service.

The DOT has been working with the city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority to bridge the gap in subway service between Brooklyn and Manhattan, and has instituted special shuttle bus service and bus-only lanes to speed travel over the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges. Temporary bus lanes have also been set up on either side of the bridges on Third and Flatbush Avenues.

On a normal weekday, said Sadik-Khan, 728,000 people take the subway into Manhattan from the Jay Street, Atlantic Avenue/Barclays Center and Hewes Street subway stations. Over 200,000 people usually drive over the East River Bridges.

Sadik-Khan said the dedicated lanes were working. "Traffic was tough today," she said, "but it's pretty good flow considering the challenges that we face."

Residents of Newark, NJ, lining up for gas to power generators. (Photo by Anna Sale/WNYC)

Here's a list of what's transit is running in the NYC area this morning.

The current NYC subway map is fluid -- see the latest one here.

Because: the MTA says it can have subways running in the tunnels between Brooklyn and Manhattan in two hours once electricity returns. (Link)

Other transit/transpo questions? Our Transit Tracker has it covered.

Gas shortages continue to plague the area -- but the ports were opened yesterday. (Link)

Bus Bridge from Brooklyn: Jay Street was the best bet on Thursday. (link)

HOV restrictions are still in place for most area bridges. Exception: GWB.

And: the Staten Island Ferry could resume limited service later on today.

NJ Transit is slowly resuming some rail service, despite devastating damage. (Photos here)

Food for thought: NYC's subway flooding was predictable and eerily matches climate change models. (Link)

Speaking of climate change: NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg says: "One [candidate] sees climate change as an urgent problem that threatens our planet; one does not." He's endorsing Barack Obama for president. (Link)

Been wondering what happened to subway rats during the flood? We were, too. (Link)

Questions about power? Shelters? How to help? Answers for other post-Sandy questions, here.

TN's regular Moving Stories will resume Monday. Subscribe to our daily email here. And follow us on Twitter for updates. Check out Tumblr, too.

The totality of the damage done to New Jersey Transit by Hurricane Sandy can't be fully ascertained at this point, but the list on the agency's website is daunting.

Rail lines have suffered catastrophically: washouts, downed trees, waterlogged equipment, and track damage. The iconic Hoboken Ferry Terminal is flooded. The agency reports that even the Rail Operations Center--"the central nervous system of the railroad"--is engulfed in water. Although most bus service returned Thursday, nine of its bus garages continue to operate on back-up generator power. And in a letter requesting federal aid, Senators Lautenberg and Menendez write: "the only passenger rail tunnel into New York City—which connects thousands of people to the city each day—is shut down."

Earlier this week, Governor Christie said it could take seven to 10 days to resume PATH train service.

There is no timeline for resumption of rail service. The agency says it is continuing to inspect the system and that "the blow delivered by Hurricane Sandy will continue to impact customers for days to come."

This guy might have pulled through. (Photo by laverrue via flickr)

It's not just New York's two-legged population that could take a while to get back to normal.

While most subway riders have other concerns -- like when will the currently truncated service return to normal -- another nagging question remains: how did the subway's rat population fare?

We reached out to the New York City's Health Department, which runs the city's Rodent Academy. Turns out: the answer is mixed.

According to a DOH spokesperson: floods push some rats to the surface, but they also kill lots of rats -- particularly young rats -- in their underground burrows. As a result, floods tend to reduce the overall rat population.

The DOH said it was unclear at this point what affect Hurricane Sandy might have on the rat population, but noted the agency hasn't heard any reports of significant impact.

But other musings about rat society point to a more nuanced view of exactly what kind of rat might have survived. New York Magazine reports that dominant rats may live deeper below ground -- increasing their likelihood of drowning -- while the more "submissive" rats cluster closer to the surface.

Under this theory, the meek rats shall inherit the subway.

Other facts from the NYC DOH:

• No research has demonstrated an increased health risk from flushed rats from underground.
• DOH is monitoring for signs of increased rat activity and will respond accordingly.
• Dead rats do not pose a health risk. "We have not received reports of large piles of dead rats, but we are monitoring this and can take steps to get rid of them as appropriate."
• There are no reliable estimates of the rat population in NYC.
• The main rat in NYC is the Norway rat.

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.