Water rushes into the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, caused by Hurricane Sandy. (Getty Images)
The MTA began running limited bus service tonight at 5 p.m. and will begin operating on a full schedule by tomorrow, Gov. Cuomo announced today.
There will be no fares on any of the buses for the time being to help the region recover from the storm, he said.
Several Manhattan buses got rolling early this evening, including the M34, M34A, M14, M57 and M22 lines.
The MTA expects to have all lines running tomorrow.
Restorations of subway service, however, remains unclear.
Officials said the underground tunnels suffered extensive flooding, and it could be up to five days before full service is restored.
Cuomo said it’s possible the subways will come up bit by bit.
The governor also said that the Brooklyn Battery and Holland Tunnels will remain closed due to flooding.
The Outerbridge Crossing, George Washington, Goethals and Bayonne bridges have been reopened, according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. However, all motorists are urged to avoid driving unless absolutely necessary.
Kennedy Airport will likely reopen Wednesday but LaGuardia won’t because it suffered extensive damage.
He said President Obama called him and he “told him the major problem was the flooding of the tunnels.”
He also told Obama “We have a 100 year flood every two years now.”
The one bit of good news was that no subway cars or buses were damaged by the storm because they were all moved beforehand.
There is no timetable for restoring NJ Transit service.
“Early inspections this morning reveal that Sandy has devastated NJTransit’s operation & infrastructure,” the agency tweeted today.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tweeted: “The NJ_TRANSIT system has experienced unprecedented devastation. Service will not resume until it’s repaired, safe, & secure.”