Port Authority Bus Terminal closed due to snowstorm overcrowding
The Port Authority Bus Terminal is so crowded with commuters waiting for buses amid a massive winter storm that the agency is blocking any more people from entering, officials said.
Officials closed the doors to the facility at about 5:15 p.m. because so many passengers are waiting for buses that aren’t heading in or out.
“We’re recommending passengers take trains back to NJ due to weather causing bus delays,” said a PA spokesman.
The agency even tweeted that riders should find other ways to get home.
The station was so chaotic that some commuters were just looking for booze to ease their pain.
“I’m infuriated and my bus line is awful as it is and I’ve never seen it like this,” said Kristen Norton, 23, of Bloomfield, NJ. “We are going to try and get a drink — seems like a sensible thing to do.”
Two buses collided on the outbound helix at one point, said workers.
Rider Kelly Farrell tweeted a photo of the mobbed bus station.
“Soo I wouldn’t recommend @PABusTerminal tonight,” she wrote.
Commuter Neta Yoffe posted a video of the chaos.
“The chaos that is right now at #portauthority is beyond words,” she tweeted. “Two inches of snow gets you waiting for over two hours to get on a bus through #lincolntunnel.”
Some griped that the snow isn’t bad enough to warrant such a mess.
“I have commuted to the city in worse weather. So, someone please explain to me how and why I am stranded at Port Authority until ‘further notice,’ ” tweeted Steph Velasquez.
The entrances are still closed as of 7 p.m.
“The main issue is that only limited numbers of buses have been able to get into the PABT, leading to the overcrowding,” said the agency spokesman.
At JFK Airport, 82 flights were canceled and 171 more were delayed. And 125 takeoffs were nixed at La Guardia with another 192 flights delayed. Newark saw 155 departures canceled and 198 delayed.
The weather wreaked havoc on commuter rail, too, with switch-related problems scuttling Amtrak service north of the city.
The George Washington Bridge was a parking lot for much of the afternoon and evening following multiple car wrecks there.
Eventually, motorists got so fed up waiting that some commuters were spotted walking over the bridge, WABC-TV reported.
The Bayonne Bridge was closed at 2:50 p.m. because cars were having trouble getting up the bridge’s slippery incline, according to Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman.
Mayor Bill de Blasio was forced to cancel his Friday junket to Washington, DC.
Hizzoner said he was staying in New York and “monitoring the storm.”
Meanwhile, the New Yorkers who weren’t trying to get out of dodge were left dodging branches, as trees went toppling across the five boroughs.
One unlucky New Yorker was even hit twice — first while the victim was in their car and again while paramedics rendered aid, according to the FDNY.
An NYPD Emergency Services Unit officer was also struck and briefly pinned by a falling tree while trying to move an already downed tree, according to law enforcement sources and witnesses.
Weather-watchers had forecasted the storm would bring just 1-2 inches going into Thursday.