  The transverse Meissner effect (TME) in the highly layered superconductor
$Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+y}$ with columnar defects is investigated by transport
measurements. We present detailed evidence for the persistence of the Bose
glass phase for $H_{\perp}<H_{\perp c}$ : (i) the variable-range vortex hopping
process for low currents crosses over to the half-loops regime for high
currents; (ii) in both regimes near $H_{\perp c}$ the energy barriers vanish
linearly with $H_{\perp}$ ; (iii) the transition temperature is governed by
$T_{BG}(H_{\parallel},0) -T_{BG}(H_{\parallel},H_{\perp}) \sim |H_{\perp}|
^{1/\nu_{\perp}}$ with $\nu_{\perp}=1.0 \pm 0.1$. Furthermore, above the
transition as $H_{\perp}\to H_{\perp c}^+$, moving kink chains consistent with
a commensurate-incommensurate transition scenario are observed. These results
thereby clearly show the existence of the TME for $H_{\perp}<H_{\perp c}$ .
