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Stay Home Or Get Arrested! 2:30 p.m. Travel Ban – MTA Update: New York Subway Delays, MTA Bus Service Shut Down

By Paula Mooney
Published on: 05:47 PST, Jan 23, 2016

The MTA has provided a “MTA Winter Storm Update,” letting travelers know what to expect when trying to use public transportation during the brutal winter snow blizzard that is Jonas. The following update was posted to the MTA page.

“A major snow storm is currently impacting the MTA service area.”

“Due to deteriorating road conditions and poor visibility, NYC Transit and MTA Bus service will begin an orderly shut down of all local, limited and express bus service at NOON. Access-A-Ride service will also be suspended.”

“Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad and NYC Subway service is currently operating with scattered weather related delays especially on elevated and open cut subway and rail line. Crews and snow fighting equipment have been dispatched and are working to keep platforms and rails clear of ice and snow. We are monitoring conditions for impacts to service. We advise customers if at all possible to remain at home during the duration of this storm.”

“New York City Transit”

“NYC Transit will being an orderly shutdown of all elevated and open cut (exterior) portions of the subway system. The last trains to leave terminals will depart at 4:00pm. The subway will operate underground only for the remainder of that storm. NYC Transit and MTA Bus local, limited and express bus service is currently suspended. Access-A-Ride service has begun an orderly shut down of service. We advise customers who do not have to travel to remain at home until the current weather conditions subside and roads cleared for safe operations.”

For more information from MTA, see the MTA update page.

In an expanded post about the MTA Service Update, the MTA reports that the elevated subway system will begin shutting down — with the last NYC Transit trains expected to leave their terminals at 4:00 p.m. From that point on, only subway systems that literally run underground are expected to continue while Storm Jonas rages on and does its snowy blizzard thing. MTA reports they will post updates.

In the first photo displayed above, taken on Saturday, January 23, a man is seen trying to move his Push cart with passengers inside. Although that photo was taken during the snowstorm that is the hurricane-like Blizzard Jonas in the early morning hours on Saturday on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, one wonders if they same scenario won’t play out in New York City. It’s a logistical nightmare to think of such a huge city with the only form of transportation being the subway.

However, with the major blizzard warning that told folks Jonas would last from Friday evening until Sunday, many residents had prepared to remain inside all weekend and cleaned out store shelves of bottled water, bread, and other essentials.

On Twitter, folks are making the best of the situation, tweeting about MTA and the fact that the New York City travel ban, as reported by the Guardian, means people can be arrested, according to the NYPD and Mayor de Blasio.

As expected, the words from the mayor threatening folks with arrest if they take to the roads after the travel ban aren’t sitting well with some New Yorkers who are used to traveling the roads as they please. Beneath the tweet from NYPD News, some are asking which law subjects them to arrest if they don’t heed the travel ban.

With buses in New York City shut down and some MTA exterior lines planning to do the same a 4 p.m., it seems New Yorkers are left to use their bodies to walk around and play in the snow — but to still heed all the rules of the travel ban in order to avoid arrest.

[AP Photo/Mel Evans]

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