New York City began rationing petrol yesterday for the first time since the 1970s, in response to a persistent fuel crisis that has shuttered hundreds of fuel stations and forced desperate drivers to wait hours in line to fill their tanks.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city was imposing a rationing system - restricting sales to cars with even-numbered licence plates on even days, and odd-numbered on odd days. Plates ending with a letter will be treated as odd-numbered.
Nassau and Suffolk counties, on Long Island, also announced odd-even fuel rationing. New Jersey did the same last Saturday.
The rationing came after more than a week of federal and local efforts to resolve a fuel crisis that continues to defy a quick or easy solution. Those efforts were set back by Wednesday's storm, which interrupted efforts to repair petroleum terminals and slowed barges carrying fuel from reaching their docks.