NYC, NJ Winter Storm Avery Travel Hell: Several Hour Delays After MTA Subway Price Hikes Proposed, Amazon Gifted Billions in Subsidies

Winter Storm Avery brought hellish conditions to commuters Thursday after record November snowfall blanketed roads and highways.

Delayed buses and stranded drivers left New York and New Jersey commuters wondering about the lack of preparedness.

"They did a terrible job. No salt, no nothing," Matthew Hayes, a New York commuter stuck for five hours, told The Weather Channel. "Cars just in the middle of the road. It was a parking lot. Insane, absolutely insane. I can't believe how bad it was."

Many frustrated commuters took to Twitter to express their distaste with the bus system. One commuter, Krystal Baldie, simply tweeted: "are u kidding me right now."

@PABusTerminal are u kidding me right now pic.twitter.com/dzD1EZfktX

— Krystal (@ChikNameKrystal) November 15, 2018

The George Washington Bridge also experienced a total lockdown due to a 25-car pileup. Thankfully, no one was badly injured; however, it took crews several hours to clear up the collision.

Oops!! the winter weather has started. The GWB is a total lockdown. Expect Heavy traffic. pic.twitter.com/uYP0N067ka

— NYC Scanner (@NYScanner) November 15, 2018

"The total lack of preparedness from the governor's mansion on down left our state in a complete mess!" Jay Wanczyk, who spent more than seven hours on an NJ Transit bus from Pompton Plains, New Jersey, to Manhattan, told USA Today.

"Epic fail, Westchester County. Disgraceful preparation and abominable road conditions. Four hours from Scarsdale to Tarrytown and STILL not home. Epic fail," one Twitter user tweeted.

The city and the Port Authority were allegedly so unprepared that the Sanitation Department had to assist in plowing the snowfall, according to a Daily News report.

Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman denied another agency was called, and told the Daily News, "We were not blindsided, and we were not unprepared."

In an interview with CBS News, Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia said, "We were very prepared."

"We had been doing very well up until that moment, we had been making good progress in terms of getting salt down across the city," Garcia said. "I'd actually noted that the Bronx was ahead of the other boroughs, and then everything came to a complete halt and spreaders literally did not move four hours."

More than 160 schools across New York are experiencing closures or 90-minute to 2-hour delays Friday. Find a complete list of the affected schools on NBC New York.

While the level of preparedness for Winter Storm Avery was in question, a large proposal was announced – not for roadways, but for Amazon.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo defended Amazon's $2.8 billion incentive package Thursday, calling the deal with Amazon a "home run."

"This is the largest economic infusion the state has ever seen," Cuomo said in a New York Post report. "It's a big, transformative move for our economy in the tech sector. It diversifies our economy, and it's a home run."

Adding to a laundry list of commuter frustrations, the MTA recently unveiled price hikes for bus and subway tolls.

Starting in March 2019, single-ride fares could go up to $3, a 9 percent increase. While a 7-day or 30-day pass will experience jumps between 3 and 5 percent.

Possibly due to the growing popularity of ride-share services, MTA is scrambling to find ways of increasing revenue.

"Without additional recurring revenues in the near term, our options will be either service reductions, reductions in force, and/or additional fare and toll increases," said MTA Chief Financial Officer Robert Foran.

"I don't like it," one commuter told NY1. "It's like we are paying more money for less service."

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


Hannah Preston works remotely from the Los Angeles area. She studied Journalism & New Media at California Baptist University and interned ... Read more

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