Direct Subway Service To Return To Rockaways In Mid-2013 via NY1.com

Direct subway service is not expected to return to the Rockaways in Queens until the middle of 2013, according to a Metropolitan Transportation Authority source. NY1's Michael Herzenberg filed the following report.

Expect to wait until summer for the Rockaways commute to return to normal.

Hurricane Sandy almost totally destroyed the A train tracks in Broad Channel, which connect the peninsula to the rest of the city.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority now buses people from Howard Beach to the Far Rockaways and back. You can catch a train on the new, temporary H line at the Mott Avenue station, where the train shuttles people across the Rockaways.

Far Rockaway resident Angel Guerrido said the A train situation adds pain to a peninsula plagued with problems.

"There's a lot of people facing homelessness through the hurricane," he said.

Angel said he's one of them because he lost his job at a gas station which was looted and closed. Now, he's bringing donated groceries home to his children.

"I am so scared and nervous," he said. "I hope God will be on my side."

He said he faces a tougher challenge looking for work without A train service.

"It makes it a little bit inconvenient cause it's more time consuming as opposed to just taking the subway," he said.

It's a frustration shared by just about everyone here who depends on public transportation.

"I have to take three trains and a bus," said one commuter.

"I leave home at 6:30 to get to work at 8:30," said another.

"I was late for work because there were just five buses filled to the brim and people on the sidewalk waiting and waiting and waiting," said a third.

Since the storm, the city is also subsidizing a weekday ferry from Rockaway Park to Manhattan that has been heavily used by residents.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has said that replacing all the damaged tracks is a tremendous undertaking.