Metro

Trains and buses will be packed during today’s commute

RECOVERY: Residents in New Dorp, Staten Island, yesterday make their way up a street heaped with storm-damaged property emptied out of homes.

RECOVERY: Residents in New Dorp, Staten Island, yesterday make their way up a street heaped with storm-damaged property emptied out of homes. (AP)

OOPS: A driver on the Marine Parkway Bridge into the Rockaways is charged a toll yesterday, before the MTA realized those fees were waived.

OOPS: A driver on the Marine Parkway Bridge into the Rockaways is charged a toll yesterday, before the MTA realized those fees were waived. (Kendall Rodriguez)

RECOVERY: Residents in New Dorp, Staten Island, yesterday make their way up a street heaped with storm-damaged property emptied out of homes. (AP)

RECOVERY: Residents in New Dorp, Staten Island, yesterday make their way up a street heaped with storm-damaged property emptied out of homes. (
)

Rush-hour riders can get to work today — but it’s a gale-force headache.

Six more subway lines yesterday crossed under the East River for the first time since Sandy struck, but trains and buses will still be packed to the gills for the morning commute, officials warned.

“Subway service will not be normal,” Gov. Cuomo said. “[Passenger] volume will be way up.”

Mayor Bloomberg kept his word about taking mass transit to work today.

He was spotted riding the 5 train to City Hall this morning.

During rush hour, trains will run at 10-minute intervals — a much longer wait than the usual two to three minutes, the MTA said.

And kids returning to school coupled with the ongoing gas shortage means more bodies will be packed into those fewer trains — and there will be no provision banning bikes, officials said.

“I just ask everyone to be understanding, and also try to think about flex time and try to leave a little bit earlier or a little bit later,” MTA chief Joe Lhota said about the first major commute since Sandy ravaged the city’s transportation network a week ago.

More than 80 percent of the subway network is back on track — but it will carry less than 80 percent of normal capacity, agency officials said.

The MTA also revealed yesterday that, for most of last week, tolls have been mistakenly charged on the two bridges leading to the storm-ravaged Rockaways.

An MTA source said last night that anyone who crossed the Marine Parkway or Cross Bay bridges with E-ZPass would be reimbursed, but cash payers were out of luck.

Tolls on those bridges are waived until the end of the month.

Also yesterday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he hoped PATH service will return by next week. All the water has been removed from the system.

Meanwhile, saltwater-damaged subway equipment could cause problems once trains are re-energized, meaning even more delays.

“This is a 100-year-old system — think of it as a 90- to 100-year-old patient that got into an accident and is in the hospital,” Lhota said. “Things always happen when you get in the hospital that you don’t expect.”

Yesterday, the system continued to creep back to normal.

Six more train lines — the F, M, 2, 3, Q and D — crossed the East River, with the Q going over the Manhattan Bridge.

“THE F LINE IS UP & RUNNING!!” Lhota tweeted yesterday, fulfilling a promise to personally announce the service restoration of the train he takes to work.

Also, the J train is now running over the Williamsburg Bridge, while the D train now rumbles over the Manhattan Bridge.

The 1 train was extended south to 14th Street yesterday, and the once-flooded South Ferry Station is dry.

And the MTA will truck in 20 subway cars to the Rockaways for shuttle service between Mott Avenue and Beach 116th Street. Buses will take passengers to the Howard Beach station on the A line.

The agency couldn’t give a timetable for when that service will begin.

The R line — which connects Manhattan to Brooklyn — remains divided because of flooding in the Montague Street tunnel.

Alternate-side parking is suspended today for storm recovery and tomorrow for Election Day.