Michael Nagle for The New York Times
On Friday, the first day of gas rationing in New York City, a van without gas had to be pushed to a Hess station in Brooklyn.
The return of 1970s-era gas lines to the five boroughs of New York City was not the result of a single miscalculation, but a combination of missed opportunities, ignored warnings and a lack of decisiveness by city and state officials that produced a deepening crisis and a sense of frustration.
Even before Hurricane Sandy came ashore, city and state officials moved quickly to shut down a sprawling transit system and order mass evacuations. But heading off a potential gas shortage seemed to be a low priority, if one at all, according to government officials, industry experts and gas station owners.
When confronted with gas lines that were growing exponentially and reports of fuel terminals in disrepair, city and state officials who huddled with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Sunday were unable to come to a decision to ration gas, as New Jersey had done the previous day.
Instead, these officials seemed to cross their fingers that somehow the gas supply would improve and that they would be able to avoid resurrecting unpleasant memories of the 1970s. Mr. Cuomo was said to be especially lukewarm, according to several people who were present at or were briefed on the discussion. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, these people also said, talked about odd-even rationing and also mused aloud in the Sunday meeting that perhaps the best option was to simply allow the free market to dictate how people would find gas.
But by Wednesday, there were renewed concerns that the gas crunch was not easing in the five boroughs and parts of Long Island — even as it was in New Jersey and the suburbs north of the city. By the next day, officials in New York City and in Nassau and Suffolk Counties were ready to embrace rationing.
"The reaction on this side of the Hudson was slow, and New Yorkers have paid the price," said Anthony Michael Sabino, a lawyer who specializes in the oil and gas industry and lives in Nassau County. "The crisis became much worse because when people were left to their own devices, a panic set in."
Compounding the problem was the lack of a centralized way for officials to coordinate with counterparts in the region's complicated fuel-distribution network — as the city works with utilities like Consolidated Edison.
New York City's rationing effort coincided with one that began on Friday in Nassau and Suffolk and followed odd-even rules imposed for 12 counties in New Jersey. On Friday (Nov. 9), cars with either odd numbers or letters at the end of their plates were able to get gas. On even days, cars with even numbers or 0 at the end of their plates will be able to get gas.
Throughout the area, long lines continued. There were no reports of arrests, though at some stations, drivers with the wrong numbers at the end of their plates were seen getting gas.
At a Hess station in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the wait for gas on Friday was about 20 minutes — far shorter than it had been in recent days, said Tony Dazzo, 35, an engineer who lives in Queens.
"They should have done it sooner," he said. "It gets half the people off the line and moves it a lot more quickly."
Even with a gas-rationing program in place, Mr. Bloomberg said the shortage might persist for days to come; and oil industry experts were even gloomier, cautioning that a lack of fuel could hamper travel during the busy Thanksgiving holiday.
Mr. Cuomo's aides declined to discuss any internal deliberations about the rationing, but noted that he had repeatedly singled out the gas shortage as a major problem.
"If you want to paralyze a region as we've seen, just stop the fuel delivery for two days," he said at a news briefing on Friday.
The storm cut off power to thousands of gas stations across the state, but perhaps more critically, it caused widespread damage to refineries and a network of ports and terminals that deliver gas to the pumps. But as Mr. Cuomo and industry executives have repeatedly warned, panic buying and hoarding among drivers have only slowed recovery efforts by placing more stress on the entire system.
In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie imposed a gas-rationing system last Saturday.
"The major problem is the terminals, but the mayor should have followed Governor Christie faster to curb some of the hoarding," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service. "When you have 200 people on line for gasoline, it doesn't take long for a station to run out." Placing extra strain on supplies has been the demand from emergency responders and people using generators.
Andy Newman and Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
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