• Lines grow, tempers flare at pumps as gas shortage grows after Sandy

    With limited mass transit, more folks are forced to use cars, and that, combined with a gas shortage, is creating gas station lines extending for miles all over New York and New Jersey. NBC's Tom Costello reports.

    By NBC News staff and wire services

    Updated at 7:55 a.m. ET: Motorists in New York and New Jersey exchanged words – and reportedly even shoves and punches – as they faced a second day of stressful, sometimes miles-long lines Thursday at the gas stations that still had both electricity and supplies after superstorm Sandy.

    Power outages kept many pumps out of service and tough travel made fuel deliveries difficult.

    A police officer directed traffic at a Gulf station in Newark, N.J., as a line of vehicles stretched for about two miles. Dozens of people with empty red gas canisters also stood in the line that snaked around the station.

    NBC's Kerry Sanders reports from a helicopter high above Bloomfield, N.J., where drivers are lined up for miles waiting for a chance to fill up.

    Betty Bethea, 59, had been waiting almost three hours as she approached the front of the line of cars, and she brought reinforcements: Her kids were there with gas cans, and her husband was behind her in his truck. 


    "It is crazy out here — people scrambling everywhere, cutting in front of people. I have never seen New Jersey like this," Bethea said.

    Police in New Jersey said they broke up fights at gas stations all day Wednesday, according to the Wayne Patch. 

    "Everyone's panicking because all their gas tanks are on 'E,'" one officer was quoted as saying.

    Numerous reports of confrontation at the stations that were still open surfaced on Twitter and YouTube.

    Justin Lane / EPA

    A man waits in line on 10th Avenue to get gasoline for his taxi at a gas station on Thursday as New York City tries to recover from the effects of Sandy.

    A fistfight broke out Wednesday between customers at the Getty station on Route 59 in Monsey, N.J., the only functioning station in the area, Chiam Tzik, the station's manager, told Newsday. On Thursday morning, traffic stretched for at least half a mile on both sides of the road.

    In New York state, Yonkers Mayor Michael Spano signed an executive order rationing gas to 10 gallons per customer effective immediately.

    Related: Northeast may see long gas lines for a week

    New York taxi and car service companies started pulling vehicles off the road as service stations are now out of gasoline or power to run pumps.

    New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy authorized the Metropolitan Transit Authority to waive fares Thursday and Friday as an inducement to get people to take mass transit instead of driving.

    In another move to reduce congestion, New York City's Taxi and Limousine Commission announced Thursday that HOV restrictions on bridges have been lifted for liveries, “black cars” and taxis.

    NBC's Kerry Sanders reports from Yonkers, N.Y,, where an aerial view of the New York City region shows a traffic nightmare as officials set up checkpoints to make sure every vehicle has at least three passengers before they are allowed into the city.

    Taxi drivers are accepting normal metered fares but are also permitted to accept additional passengers during a trip, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Taxi and Limousine Commission suggests $10 per additional passenger, but it’s up to drivers and passengers to negotiate the final amount, the Journal reported.

    For millions of Americans, Thursday morning marks day three of no electricity, and many will be without power for days to come. NBC's Harry Smith investigates why Sandy is the third storm in only a year to cripple the Northeast power system and whether it's simply part of a new normal.

    Zipcar Inc, a car-sharing company that rents out vehicles at an hourly or daily rate, said members late in returning cars in New York because of traffic or fuel shortages would not face the usual charges.

    "Any members who are willing to wait in line for fuel, we're willing to waive any late fees," said Dan Curtin, Zipcar's vice president of fleet operations in Boston. The firm is offering members in New York and New Jersey discounts until Friday.

    At the heart of the fuel supply crunch is the fact that Sandy has devastated the energy industry's ability to move fuel into and around the New York City region, particularly the harbor, by any of the three means that normally supply the area: tanker imports from abroad; pipeline shipments from the U.S. Gulf Coast; or refinery production from the mid-New Jersey area. 

    The good news is none of these issues appears to be long-lasting. Power is gradually being restored in New Jersey, where much of the key infrastructure is located and New York Harbor barge traffic is expected to resume later Thursday. A key pipeline should resume limited deliveries on Friday. Even flooded refineries should eventually resume production.

    The bad news is that the supply crunch may get worse before it gets better. Supplies at gas stations that remained open are running out, and it may be several more days before wholesale fuel supplies get where they need to go. Public Service Enterprise Group Inc, the biggest utility in New Jersey, said it may be up to 10 days to fully restore power. Oil tank trucks are driving three hours to Delaware City to get fuel, but they can only carry up to 9,000 gallons each.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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  • NYC taxi plan expected to make $1.46 billion ruled unconstitutional

    By NBCNewYork.com

    New York City's plan to expand taxi service outside Manhattan is unconstitutional, a judge ruled Friday in a decision that could leave the city with a $1.46 billion hole in its budget.


    Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ruled that the plan violates the state constitution's "home rule" provisions, which protect cities from undue interference by state legislators. The taxi plan was enacted by the state Legislature after a failed attempt to get it through the City Council.

    City lawyers said they would immediately appeal the ruling, which could leave officials scrambling to remake this year's budget. Officials have said 2,000 yellow-cab medallion sales included in the plan would earn the city $635 million this fiscal year and $825 million more over the following two years.

    The plan, put temporarily on hold in June after owners of the city's signature yellow cabs sued, would let the city sell 18,000 permits allowing livery cabs to pick up passengers who hail them on streets in upper Manhattan and the other boroughs. Currently, only yellow cabs can do that.

    City Taxi and Limousine Commissioner David Yassky said officials owe it to New Yorkers to appeal.

    For more, visit NBCNewYork.com

    "The court's decision today is a great loss to millions of New Yorkers outside of Manhattan, as well as for the professional livery drivers whose ability to feed their families by providing a popular service their communities want and deserve is now in jeopardy," he said in a statement.

    The Greater New York Taxi Association called the ruling "a win for democracy, due process of law and the right of New Yorkers to decide how their own city works." The group said in a statement it would work with city officials "to address these issues."

    Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the plan would make travel safer, easier and cheaper for millions of people and provide the city a much needed cash infusion in tight budget times. Yellow cab owners have argued it would cut their business.

    Under the plan, the livery cab "street hail" permits would initially be sold by the city for $1,500; taxi medallions have gone for as much as $1 million on the open market. The 2,000 new yellow cab medallions would have been restricted to vehicles that are wheelchair-accessible.

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    After negotiations over the outer-borough taxi issue stalled in the City Council, Bloomberg took it to Albany, saying it was a goal that had eluded the city for three decades and would expand cab service in areas that are home to 7 million people. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature reached a deal on it in December.

    The Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade sued in April, on the eve of a city Taxi and Limousine Commission vote to put the proposal into action. The commission voted to approve the plan anyway.

    As the suit was filed, the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade's president, Ron Sherman, called the plan "unconstitutional, irresponsible and unconscionable."

    Yellow cab owners "are overwhelmed with anxiety, grief and worry over their future as a result of this devastating law, which will completely undermine their livelihood and lifetime investment," said Sherman, whose group represents the owners of 4,000 cabs leased to 16,000 drivers.

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    City lawyers said they were confident that the plan met legal requirements.

    "A great deal of careful thought and consideration went into the adoption of this important new transportation initiative," city Law Department attorney Ave Maria Brennan said in April.

    At a May hearing, Engoron mentioned that he's a former cabbie himself. He drove a yellow taxi for about a year while he was a Columbia University undergraduate in the 1960s.

    The proposal would have let 18,000 livery drivers buy permits to pick up street hails above 96th Street in Manhattan and throughout the four other boroughs, but not at Kennedy and LaGuardia airports.

    City officials said the medallion sales would generate $1.46 billion for the city, estimating each would sell for an average of $730,000 at auctions staggered over three years to keep from flooding the market. The taxi group's lawyer has said the influx of new medallions still would drive down the price below the city's estimate.

    Some $635 million of the expected medallion money is built into the budget the city approved at the end of June. If it becomes clear the $635 million in sales won't happen before June 30, 2013, the city will have to make cuts or find other money to make up for it.

    The city routinely adjusts its budget plan several times throughout the year to reflect changes in its finances.

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