NEW YORK — Commuters were forced to improvise Monday to get to jobs, medical appointments and school on the first real workday following superstorm Sandy’s crippling effects on the region.
Some New Yorkers rolled out of bed earlier — and others much later — to secure a spot on a train that took longer than usual. Others squeezed into packed buses they had never taken before. A few traveled miles in plummeting temperatures to make a transit connection — all in an attempt to return to something of a normal life.
It normally takes Rabbi Nahum Marcus about an hour to get from home in Cedarhurst, Long Island, to his teaching job in Brooklyn. He needed 2 1/2 hours Monday and a multitude of connections, chasing after crowded trains to make it to work.
“Not fun,” Marcus said before he dashed off to yet another train. “I don’t know how it will be getting back home.”
Amanda Rogers left home in West Orange, N.J., at 10:15 a.m., hoping to get to her job as a broadcast coordinator across the Hudson River in Manhattan by noon.
It didn’t happen.
At 12:15, she stood in front of a display screen at New York’s Pennsylvania Station. It showed a delay on her subway line.
“I really can’t take another week off work,” she said. “I’m really needed in my department.”
Reagan Stone tried to avoid the crowds and delays. She left her home in Long Island at 10 a.m. to get to her voice teaching job and an early-afternoon medical appointment in Manhattan.
Stone, who is visually impaired, said fewer people crowded Penn Station, making it easier for her to get around with her walking stick.
Some commuters didn’t mind the long waits as long as trains were operating.
Burke Williams, a 46-year-old porter, said his 9 a.m. train from Brooklyn was 15 minutes late, making him tardy to work.
“But it’s moving. At least it’s moving,” Williams said.
