This grant from the National Science Foundation funded the collection of important, perishable data on commuter adaptation to transportation disruptions and temporary policy and service changes related to Hurricane Sandy in the New York Metropolitan area. We collected survey data about how NYC area commuters changed transportation modes, departure times, and other travel-related choices.
The survey questions can be downloaded here in pdf HurricaneSandySurveyQuestions.
397 responses were obtained. The summary of the responses by question can be downloaded here in pdf SandySurveySummary.
To place the survey responses in context, consider the response and recovery actions that took place in the weeks after Hurricane Sandy and shown in the two tables below (reproduced with permission from E. Kontou’s thesis).
Citation: Kontou, E. (2013) Commute Travel Changes and Their Duration in Hurricane Sandy’s Aftermath. M.S. Thesis, Civil Engineering, Virginia Tech.
Table 1 Two first weeks’ response/recovery actions’ milestones for NYC and MTA
|
Date
|
Transportation Area |
Event |
|---|---|---|
|
10/27/2012 |
General | Mayor defines lower Manhattan as the most vulnerable place to a storm surge. |
| General | DOT will be deployed throughout to address flooding conditions. | |
| MTA/NYC Transit | NYC Transit prepares and will advise on shutting down the service. | |
|
10/28/2012 |
MTA subway buses & railroads | MTA subways, buses and Long Island and Metro-North Railroads: Service suspended beginning at 7 p.m. Sunday night. |
|
10/29/2012 |
Tunnels | The Holland Tunnel and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, which are particularly prone to flooding, closed. |
| Bridges | Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge closed. | |
| General | Hurricane Sandy strikes. | |
|
10/30/2012 |
Transit | No transit service. |
| Bridges/Tunnels | All bridges reopened. The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and the Holland Tunnel remained closed. | |
| Taxis | 4000 taxis operating by afternoon (1/3 of the entire fleet). | |
| PATH tube | PATH tubes between New Jersey and New York have been entirely filled with seawater. | |
|
10/31/2013 |
Buses | Dozens of buses start to operate again, specific routes restored. |
| Subway | Pumping water out of subway, inspection and cleaning of electrical components. | |
| HOV3+ policy | HOV3+ at the East River bridges – the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queensboro and Williamsburg Bridges – . | |
|
11/1/2012 |
General | Quick release Emergency Relief Funds available for New York State. |
| Gas | Less than 40% of the gas stations in NYC metropolitan region are functioning due to loss of power supply. | |
| HOV3+ policy | HOV3+ still implemented but lifted for taxis and livery cars. | |
| MTA/Rail service | MTA fares waived. Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road begin limited commuter rail service. | |
| Buses | Dedicated bus lanes to help buses travel from Brooklyn into Manhattan by shuttle buses. | |
|
11/2/2012 |
MTA/Rail service | MTA fares waived, more subway service restored, Northeast Corridor trains resumed between Trenton and Newark Penn Station. LIIR monthly tickets valid through Nov. 5th. |
| Ferry service | Staten Island Ferry Service resumed and East River Ferry restored. | |
|
11/3/2012 |
HOV3+ policy | HOV3+ policy lifted |
| Buses | Additional Bus Service added, fair collection not waived anymore | |
|
11/5/2012 |
Trains | Additional LIRR service restored (off peak fares). |
| Ferry service | Additional ferry service restored. | |
| Tunnels | Queens Midtown tunnel 1 lane open for buses. | |
|
11/6/2012 |
Subway/Buses | Additional subway service; bus connections restored. |
| Rail | LIRR off peak fares. | |
|
11/7/2012 |
Tunnels | Holland Tunnel reopens to all vehicular traffic. |
|
11/9/2012 |
Gas, NYC policy | Gas odd/even gas rationing to avoid shortages, long lines and delays applied in New York City. |
|
11/19/2012 |
Subway | Normal Rail service restored on MTA Metro-North Railroad’s Port Jervis and Pascack Valley Lines. |
|
11/29/2012 |
Rail service | MTA Staten Island Railway restores morning express service. |
Table 2 Response/recovery actions’ milestones for New Jersey state and NJ Transit
|
Date
|
Transportation Area |
Event |
|
10/27/2012 |
Bus, rail, light rail | Governor announced preparations for potential shut down of the NJ TRANSIT bus, rail, light rail and Access Link Service effective Oct. 29 and system wide cross honoring from Monday through Wednesday. |
|
10/28/2012 |
Transit | NJ Transit cancelled all service in advance of the storm to ensure the safety of customers, employers, and equipment. |
|
10/29/2012 |
General | Hurricane Sandy strikes. |
|
11/1/2012 |
Transit, Paratransit | Assessed disruptions on the NJ Transit system. Access Link – ADA Paratransit service resumes in some regions. |
|
11/2/2012 |
Transit | Northeast Corridor resumed service between Trenton Transit Center and Penn Station New York operating on a special schedule. |
|
|
Rail | NJ rail service suspended. |
|
11/3/2012 |
Rail | Restoration of limited Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Service; implementation of emergency trans-Hudson access plan for the Monday commute. |
|
|
Gas, NJ policy | Mandatory access to gas stations by odd and even license plate numbers, announced by Gov. Christie. |
|
11/4/2012 |
Emergency bus service | Governor announced emergency bus plan (approx. 50% of NJ normal rush hour service) to transport passengers to ferry and light rail services. |
|
11/5/2012 |
Emergency Transit | Emergency bus plan starts, service to lower Manhattan coordinated by NY City DOT. |
|
|
Trains from NJ to NY | NJ TRANSIT operates only 13 trains into NY (Lower Manhattan) during the peak -usually operates 63. |
|
11/6/2012 |
Ferry service | Governor advised NJ TRANSIT customers to take free ferry service from Jersey City to Lower Manhattan including free parking & free shuttle buses. |
|
11/7/2012 |
Buses | FTA coordinating with FEMA to secure 350 buses to get commuters from NJ to Manhattan (supplement NJ Transit commuter rail and PATH rail lines). |
|
11/8/2012 |
Shuttle bus Ferry service | Announcement for additional free shuttle bus. Ferry service for the Trans-Hudson commute. |
|
11/9/2012 |
Buses | Free shuttle buses for the Morris & Essex Lines, Montclair-Boonton, North New Jersey Coast, and Northeast Corridor Lines. |
|
|
Ferry service | Free ferry service between Liberty State Park and Battery Park (Lower Manhattan). 2 free NY Waterway ferry tickets to use to/from NY. |
|
11/11/2012 |
Rail | Update on System Restoration NJ TRANSIT efforts: Northeast Corridor remains in service between Trenton Transit Center and New York Penn, Atlantic City Line: fully restored service operating on a regular schedule. |
|
11/12/2012 |
Rail | Main/Bergen/Port Jervis Lines: limited service resumes, Pascack Valley Line: limited service resumes on special schedule. |
|
|
Limited service resumes between High Bridge and Raritan, No service on the Gladstone Branch or Montclair-Boonton Line, No service to Hoboken. | |
|
11/14/2012 |
Rail | Limited NY and Hoboken service resumes on the Montclair-Boonton Lines in the peak hours (6am to 10 am and 4pm to 8pm). |
| Train | One train to Penn Station NY per hour, One train to Hoboken terminal per hour. | |
|
|
Ferry service | BillyBey Ferry from Hoboken to under the NY Waterway offer discount tickets for Midtown Manhattan. |
|
12/2/2012 |
Transit | All NJ transit rail lines running full or modified service. |
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number CMMI 1313674.
Disclaimer: “Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.”