just anywhere; they must live where they can find affordable housing, which is usually at least a half-hour commute by subway. New York's subways are the only system in the world to operate around the clock and are extremely extensive. To have subways down for even a week causes an economic nightmare . Sure, many folks find other ways, like the grocery chain Fairway's employees coming to work by taxi. Partial subway service is due to be restored tomorrow but the bulk of the system could take weeks, even months to be up and running again. Why will they be down so long? The tunnels and many stations have been flooded, much with saltwater which is a great conductor of electricity, as well as a very corrosive liquid . To get the more-than 400 miles of subways up and running, water must be pumped out and then the tracks must be walked and inspected every inch of the way. Debris has to be taken off the track, the switches and signals and other electric and electronic controls dried, cleaned, repaired or replaced and tested. Then and only then, can the power be restored, small-section by small-section, to be sure all is okay, and when all is okay, test trains have to be run. It takes time to both get the system running and to do so to ensure safety of both the workers and riders. If this is done for the whole system in less then a week, it will