New York commuters snarl at series of woes

Meanwhile, the 250,000 daily commuters who use the L train, a lifeline for Williamsburg, Brooklyn, had feared that it would be closed for 15 months from April for construction work. However, Cuomo said on Jan 3 that new technologies and materials will allow the line to keep operating while workers fix damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.

Cuomo said engineers would use a new technology from Europe to make critical repairs to the tunnel's two tubes, starting to rectify damage from Hurricane Sandy's floodwaters in 2012. Work will be carried out at night and at weekends.

Many Brooklyn residents had rearranged their lives in anticipation of a shutdown that would have cut their main route to Manhattan. Some moved elsewhere and some even sold their apartments.

While subway users complain about their journeys, passengers who travel to the city's airports say they do not have it any better.

The borough of Queens is home to New York's two major airports－LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy.

LaGuardia's dated structures were criticized by former vice-president Joe Biden.

He said in 2014, "If I blindfolded you and took you to LaGuardia Airport ... you'd think, 'I must be in some third-world country'."

But in June 2016, he commended a $4 billion redevelopment project for the airport at a groundbreaking ceremony.

The Cuomo administration plans to give LaGuardia an $8 billion face-lift. The governor has ordered lighting, terminal buildings and parking facilities to be upgraded.

He also signed legislation in June to advance talks on building a new $1.5 billion AirTrain to LaGuardia. Such a service already operates at JFK Airport.

The governor predicted that journey time from midtown Manhattan to LaGuardia would be 30 minutes by AirTrain, instead of 35 minutes by car.

"The new LaGuardia Airport will provide an improved customer experience with better access to airlines and public transportation for all passengers－essential to the airport's transformation," Cuomo said in a statement.

The 2.4-kilometer-long AirTrain route is due to be completed in 2022 and will run between the Long Island Rail Road station and the A subway line.

However, the Long Island Rail Road, like much of the MTA's services, rankles with passengers because of widespread delays. In January last year, it posted its worst annual on-time report in 18 years. The railroad carried 89.3 million people in 2016, a record.