A half-hour earlier than scheduled — and not a moment too soon — New York City’s subway system lurched into motion around 5:30 a.m.
And some of the earliest customers emerged from the 63rd Street F station on the Upper East Side wearing big smiles.
“It wasn’t crowded at all,” said Pat Farni, 29, a nanny who had gotten on in Elmhurst, Queens, and was headed to the Waldorf Astoria to take care of children who were staying there after their TriBeCa home lost power. “The man at the station said it wouldn’t run until 6 but we got on around 5:30.”
Train service is limited — service between Brooklyn and Manhattan is by shuttle bus — but it is free Thursday and Friday, as are the buses. See map.
On Wednesday, Ms. Farni and her friend Aun Srilarp, also a nanny, had taken buses and gotten car rides to work. One bus ride from Manhattan to Queens took four hours, Ms. Srilarp said.
“Yesterday, the line for the bus from Queens was two blocks long,” she said. “The train this morning was great.”