MTA to Suspend Service at Noon on Saturday

***UPDATE**

JFK FSD Michael Scott advises all JFK Personnel to Car Pool both into work and home for your Saturday Tour due to the MTA shutting down Mass Transit for Hurricane Irene.

Here is the story as published from http://www.newsday.com/

The Long Island Rail is expected to release details Friday afternoon of a systemwide shutdown that would likely begin on Saturday afternoon, officials said Friday. Road

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that all MTA services, including subways, buses and the Long Island Rail Road, would be suspended at noon Saturday. LIRR spokesman Salvatore Arena said the agency will release details of its suspension plan, and that it would likely take three hours or more to completely shut down the system from when the plan is initiated.

After the trains have stopped running, the LIRR will have to secure crossing gates at all of its nearly 300 crossings. Once secured in the "up" position, trains cannot travel through the crossings.

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Driving across bridges and tunnels may also not be an option for travelers during the hurricane. The Port Authority and the MTA both have speed restrictions for certain vehicles during sustained winds of around 45 mph.
"I can assure you that if there are 115-mph winds, those bridges are not going to be open to anybody except emergency vehicles," Port Authority spokesman Ron Marsico said.
Tunnels could be similarly shut down because of flooding, Marsico said.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also ordered 300,000 residents in low-lying areas to evacuate Friday.

He said the city will "take a close look" at closing all city bridges once winds reach around 50 mph. The city is enacting a plan to reduce fares on taxis and allow livery cabs to make street pickups.
Bloomberg said at some point, taxis may also come off the road because of dangerous conditions.
Ferries serving New York City, including the Staten Island Ferry, may also suspend service during high winds, Bloomberg said.

He said football fans planning to use a combined LIRR/New Jersey Transit ticket to get to the Saturday afternoon Jets game at the Meadowlands may not have MTA service to take them back home after the end of the game.

Port Authority airports, including Kennedy and LaGuardia, will likely remain open, although individual airlines will make the decision on whether to operate any flights into or out of them. The airports are stocked with "hundreds of cases of bottled water, diapers, cots, blankets and pillows," and at least one food vendor must remain open around the clock throughout the storm, Marsico said.
The moment winds in the metro area hit 60 mph, all major bridges will be closed, the governor said. That's part of why he repeatedly urged residents to strongly consider leaving potential flood areas now.
"The key is early movement," Cuomo said. "People should not be deceived by the nice weather [Friday]. They should take the voluntary evacuation seriously."

The governor added that he's preparing to deploy 1,000 National Guard troops downstate to help not only with preparations, but also repairs if the storm washes over Long Island and New York City.

Subways, buses and commuter trains in New Jersey and Pennsylvania also will be halted because of Irene, The Associated Press reported.

Cuomo officials said a record number of power-repair crews are being assembled to head into Nassau and Suffolk counties as soon as the hurricane passes.

"Immediately after the storm, we expect to have 3,400 people on the ground on Long Island," said Pat Foye, a Cuomo deputy secretary who is coordinating planning with LIPA.
MTA chairman Jay Walder said the agency cannot ensure the safety of its system during sustained winds of 39 mph or more and would have to shut down eight hours before such winds.

In addition, the LIRR is also canceling track work that was scheduled this weekend on the Far Rockaway branch. The LIRR will not substitute buses, as previously planned, for some Sunday morning trains on the Oyster Bay branch for the running of the Oyster Bay Triathlon. As of almost 2 p.m. Friday, the triathlon had not been canceled, but its website advised those interested to watch the site for any updates on Saturday afternoon.

Weekend work on the MTA Bridges and Tunnels is also suspended for the weekend.
Customers can go to mta.info for the latest status on MTA services.

Amtrak has canceled most service south of Washington for this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, including all service into and out of Penn Station.

Suffolk County Transit is still scheduled to operate normal service on Saturday, but a spokeswoman said that there is "a good chance" that the two lines usually in operation on Sunday -- the S92 and the 10C serving eastern Suffolk -- will be suspended. Service changes will be posted on www.sct-bus.org.

The Hamptons Jitney bus service expects to operate "a normal and full schedule for Friday and Saturday," but anticipates "major service disruptions or cancellations on Sunday."

The Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry has suspended all Sunday service.