New York gas rationing

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — While much of New York has power back and subway service has resumed, hundreds of thousands of people in New Jersey remain without electricity for a fifth day after superstorm Sandy swept through, and some are being told it could be several more days until its restored.
And New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ordered fuel rationing in 12 counties to reduce tremendous lines as few
gas stations, because of the electricity outages, can pump fuel that people need for their cars and home generators.
Christie imposed rationing in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Morris, Monmouth, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren counties.
New Jersey utility PSE&G said Saturday that 607,000 customers are still without power, while it’s restored service to more than a million customers, including all major petroleum refineries and 75% of schools in its territory.
Some customers have been told they may not get power back until Thursday or Friday.
Gas rationingIn an attempt to ease the extended wait times for gas, Christie declared a limited state of energy emergency in 12 counties, saying drivers with license plates with an odd last number could only fuel up on odd-numbered days, while only cars with even-numbered license plates could get gas on even-numbered days.
“Right now, the impact of the storm, particularly the continuance of widespread power outages, has created the disorderly sale of gas – including long lines, out of operation stations, and stations facing shortages,” Christie said in a statement late Friday. “This system will ease the strain on those gas stations still operating, while we work to bring more online for the public to access fuel, in a manner that is fair, easy to understand, and less stressful.”
The rule will remain in effect until the limited state of energy emergency is lifted, he said.
For many, the multi-hour waits – with reports of some fights breaking out at stations which ran out of gas — was reminiscent of the 1973 energy crisis stemming from an OPEC oil embargo or the 1979 Australian post-apocalyptic movie, “Mad Max.”
Some gas stations already sold out, while others have the fuel but no power to pump it.
In addition to New Jersey shortages, two-thirds of gas stations in the New York metro area are out of gas, according to ABC News.
Subway service restoredMeanwhile, in a major relief to millions of New Yorkers used to traveling by mass transit, the majority of New York subway service was restored Saturday.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that 80% of service has been restored, including critical under-river connections between Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.
Mass transit has been restored faster than some officials had expected after Sandy knocked out power and flooded tunnels.
More service is expected to resume as the weekend continues.
Still, some aspects of city life are expected to take much longer before they return to normal. Some schools are so badly damaged that tens of thousands of students will be sent elsewhere, and some subway lines and stations will remain out of service for weeks or, in a few cases, indefinitely

Source : http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-11-03/general/34886737_1_gas-stations-subway-service-chris-christie