Neighbors Buying Gas in New Jersey to Avoid NYC Shortages

As of 1:30 p.m., Coney Island Avenue gas stations are sold out from Avenue I to Prospect Park. Most stations had been sold out for some time and the Hess on 18th Avenue sold out just minutes ago. The car and pedestrian lines shrunk almost instantly from several blocks long to nonexistent as hundreds of people hunted for new locations to fill up.

Several neighbors and people from across New York City are reporting that it is much easier to drive into New Jersey and buy gas there than it is to get it in New York City. The trip can take around an hour which is less time than it’d take to fill up in our neighborhood — if our neighborhood still had gas.

“We’re bringing in more gas, by tanker, and it is arriving,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo in a press conference this afternoon. “It has and it is arriving.”

The Governor blames panic-buying for the lines, saying that in the city, people are constantly trying to keep their gas tanks full because they’re worried there’s a shortage, and he says it’s unnecessary.

“The panic, which is worse in the city, feeds on itself, ” he said. “Right now in some areas, we’re buying more gasoline than any usual consumption pattern.”

Even so, he says he’s working with the Mayor to come up with a coordinated set of restrictions to help ease the problems.

Have you found gas? Have you made the trip to New Jersey?