The city has suspended alternate side parking rules Friday in preparation for snow removal crews. Parking meters, however, remain in effect throughout the city.

The MTA is advising commuters to use mass transit instead. The MTA said it has a fleet of equipment to keep outdoor tracks, switches and third rails dry from the snow and ice. Transit officials said the stairs leading to all 468 subway stations will be shoveled and salted.

The Port Authority also said there will be extra personnel on duty working around the clock in 12-hour shifts. More than 4,000 tons of salt is on hand to melt ice off bridges, tunnels and airport runways.

In a related item, the City Council passed a bill which will suspend alternate side parking rules during snowstorms, when the Department of Sanitation (DOS) has to suspend its street sweeping activities. Councilmember Bill de Blasio released the following statement on the bill’s passage:

“We all know how hard it is to find a parking spot in the City, and in inclement weather it can be nearly impossible.  Once there is a lot of snow on the ground, we can’t expect residents to be able to move their snowed-in cars to a new spot.  Fining them for not doing so when alternate side parking rules are in effect is completely unfair.  Suspending alternate-side parking rules when there is enough snow to require plowing of City streets is a common sense measure that will benefit thousands of New Yorkers this winter, and I am proud to have supported it today,” said Councilmember Bill de Blasio.

(NY1 / Dov Gordon – YWN)