NYC to halt bus, subway and commuter rail service

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered New York City's transit service to suspend bus, subway and commuter rail service in advance of the massive storm expected to hit the eastern third of the United States. Cuomo says the system will be suspended starting at 7 p.m. Sunday. Story: Hurricane Sandy takes aim at Eastern Seaboard "The transportation system is the lifeblood of the New York City region, and suspending all service is not a step I take lightly," Cuomo said. "But keeping New Yorkers safe is the first priority, and the best way to do that is to make sure they are out of harm's way before gale-force winds can start wreaking havoc on trains and buses." The city's mass transit system is the nation's largest. The subway alone has a daily ridership of more than 5 million. Rainfall is expected to start late Sunday or early Monday in New York. Hurricane Sandy is headed north from the Caribbean to meet a winter storm and a cold front. Experts say the rare hybrid storm that results will cause havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes. "The MTA [Metropolitan Transit Authority] proved it can suspend service in an orderly manner when it did so last year for Tropical Storm Irene, and we have refined our Hurricane Plan since then to help us prepare for Hurricane Sandy," said MTA Chairman and CEO Joseph J. Lhota. "This storm will batter the MTA, but the precautions we take now will allow us to recover much more quickly." "The New York City subway system will begin to curtail service after 7 p.m., and the New York City bus system within the following two hours," the MTA said in a statment. "Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road will start their final trains by 7 p.m. Subway and railway stations will be closed after the last trains. "Customers who need to travel today should do so as soon as possible and not wait until the last train or bus is departing. Anyone who does not leave for their destination before 7 p.m. runs the risk of being stranded when service is suspended. New York City Transit, Metro-North and the LIRR will cross-honor each other's passes today to speed the process of returning customers to their homes." While still at sea, Hurricane Sandy already is causing widespread problems for travelers, with over 3,200 flight cancellations so far. According to FlightAware.com, the most affected hub is Newark, N.J., with more than 265 cancellations on Sunday. In total, 707 flights to, from or within the United States were canceled Sunday, FlightAware.com said. On Monday, 2,499 flights to, from or within the United States will be canceled, with 774 in Newark, 428 at Dulles and 355 in Philadelphia. According to FlightAware.com, airlines are allowing fee-free changes and, in some cases, refunds for trips impacted by the storm. The flight tracking service says it expects the number of flight cancellations for Monday and Tuesday to go up considerably. Don Morelli, a meteorologist with WSI, a sister company of The Weather Channel, said major flight delays and airport closings starting Saturday evening and lasting through Tuesday were likely. "The criteria for closing an airport is around 58, 60 miles an hour, which is easily going to be reached for much of the major hubs from D.C. northward to New York City and even into Logan [in Boston]," Morelli said. "Major delays [are] going to be very, very widespread right through mid-week, so [it's] not a good week to be traveling across the Northeastern U.S." Amtrak has also announced some cancellations to its service on Sunday and Monday. NBC News' Becky Bratu and Tom Costello and the Associated Press contributed to this report.