Sista P, I work about 30 miles north of the Big Apple so I rarely use mass transit to work. It appears to be chaos there even with execellent planning by the mayor and his team. the temperature is in the mid 20's so I am sure that the metropolis is not very supportive of a strike. The reality of life in NY is that the wealthy live in the Manhattan or the suburbs so it is mostly Joe Public who has been literally "left out in the cold"

Some companies told their employees from the outer boroughs to take the day off and figure out how to get in tomorrow.

The City underestimated the transist union. I think the union brass got grief for their last contract and just had to strike this time around. The president, a Trinidadian, is quite an execellent politician, quite articulate and has balanced his emotions and rhetoric. Howeve, he and his union are out of step with reality by being insistent on the maintenance of current pension benefits for future employees. Millions of workers in the private sector have had their pensions reduced as the cost has escalated so dramatically. The most recent victims were managers at Verizon. Employees in the private sector have had to adjust to the new reality and the union will have to.

The MTA has a credibility issue as they keep two sets of books and have been publicizing a billion dollars surplus. the workers want their share.