Why did New York City Mayor close down all public transportation before Hurricane Sandy made landfall?

Answer 1

The main reason the New York City Mayor closed down all public transportation before Hurricane Sandy made landfall was to give the MTA (Metro Transit Authority) enough time to shut down the system, and to protect the transit system's equipment and infrastructure.

Shutting down the entire transit system is a huge job that takes many hours, as the New York City subway system is one of the most massive and extensive in the world (if not THE most massive and extensive in the world). The MTA also needed to make preparations to minimize the damage done to its equipment and infrastructure, such as moving all trains from the tunnels and tracks to higher ground. These preparations could not be made while the system was still in use.

On its official website, the MTA released a Weather Advisory statement, saying that, "It is too early to say how long it will take to restore the system to full service. There is a separate process that must be followed for each division. ...Subway trains and buses must be inspected along with 5,600 buses, 6,200 subway cars, 600 miles of tracks and 468 subway stations.

...This is will be an exhaustive, time-consuming process with one goal: to restore safe and efficient service to 8.5 million daily MTA customers. It must be noted, however, that this process could have taken much longer had we not taken the pre-emptive measure of suspending all service to safeguard our equipment and prepare facilities to the best of our ability."