New York: Post-Sandy need for cabs turns JFK into a waiting game

NEW YORK -- The New York City Marathon has been canceled, but that hasn’t alleviated transportation woes out of post-Sandy JFK airport.

Landing here on Friday, I found that gas shortages have resulted in major taxi shortages. Lines for limited taxi service are an hour long or more, and guests are being told to double- and triple-up with strangers if they hope to get into Manhattan.

Once in a cab, I learned the going rate is $57 with toll for a single stop, and it is taking about 90 minutes to get to Midtown.

Lines for the shuttles stretch can be as long as three hours, so desperate travelers are choosing cabs, which is complicating matters.

Cab driver Narinder Singh expressed frustration on Friday. The lines for gas are near-gridlock, and the wait to get to a pump is nearly three hours, so Singh paid two tolls to drive to Connecticut for fuel. He paid $4 a gallon, filling his tank cost nearly $60.

Getting away from the airport it just the beginning of the hurdles that travelers to the Big Apple are facing.

A phone call to the hip boutique hotel the Jane in the West Village revealed the truth about many hotels in lower Manhattan: “The hotel is currently open, but without power, heat or hot water.”

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