So anyone in New York City?

[jrpilot]

It seems the MTA has gone on strike and the mayor is very mad.  Also it looks like it will probally hurt the economy.

[Omag 2.0]

Wouldn't like to be downtown there right now! I clearly remember the pictures after the big powerfailure, so this should be even worse!

Hang in there people! Hope our members get home!

[Fly2e]

It is real bad.
Last time the MTA went on strike was in the early 80's!!
Thousands of people use mass transit everyday to get into the city for work etc...
This morning hundreds were walking over the NY City bridges to work and the Temp was 21 degrees!!!

[flyboy 28]

*with southern accent*

Well yuh see hur, in the rur'l N'Jursy burbs, we don' havta worry 'bout dem big 'ol busses cause we can just ride our tracta's to work. Yeeeeeeehaw!

[legoalex2000]

i sometimes take public transportation, but i tell you what, the CTA (Chiago transit auth.) does a good job on public transit. unfortuanetly i dont live in chicago, i live in the burbs, where we have Pace Bus, which despite theiir efforts to make public transit easy and efficent (including a real-time online GPS bus tracking system, TV's in the busses, automated bus stop messages, covered bus stops with lCD displays), IT SUCKS!! in the city, the busses run down one street, end, and trun around. here in the burbs, the busses snake around, and take funky uneeded turns. now Metra (Metropolitan rail (like NJtransit, MTA not subway, sounder, metrolink, tri-rail, Gotransit) has pretty good efforts of reaching out to the far reaches, even with their even more limited rang due to building train tracks. i know in 5 yeas my apartment is due for demolition for a new railroad system called Metra STAR. (believe me im happy these apartments are going bye bye)

so where was I, oh yeah... if you travel to chicago, and plan on going to the suburbs, (say hi to me at some point!) DONT RIDE PACE!

whew... more off my chest.

Ramos

[beaky]

Had to go into Manhattan today to work... to get to the site in question, I'd normally take the PATH train in, then get on the NYC subway to go uptown. Well, the PATH has nothing to do with the strike, so they were running, but I had to walk just shy of a mile from the farthest-uptown PATH stop to the site. Not too bad on the way in (left my gear onsite yesterday), but pretty sucky lugging the laptop and toolbag home...  :-/
  I'm a little peeved at the TWU, but the MTA had it coming.  I hope it hurts them. But of course, they'll just use this as another excuse to hike up fares and tolls again, with more raises for administrators....what are people gonna do, boycott the subways, buses, tunnels and bridges? Not likely...let's face it, they have most of New York's working population by the short 'n' curlies. They can charge whatever the hell they want. The union knows that, so they regularly try to grab a bigger piece of the action.

It was weird today. For some reason, they'd closed down almost all side-streets in midtown (only the avenues were open)...and cops at almost every intersection.  I think they were expecting major car traffic, but Iit seemed like a lot of people just didn't drive in today.
Have to drive to Westchester tomorrow; no problem there, although there may be a lot of extra traffic at the GWB due to temporary carpool restrictions at the other bridges and tunnels into Manhattan.

[H]

Reminds me of another old song (still occasionally listen to the local "oldies" stations although I'm not collecting like I used to -- songs, not stations... although ...) about fighting the MTA (Massachussetts) fare increase. Elsewise, for lack of one nickel "Charlie" would be stuck on the train forever. What bothers me about the song is,
"Charlie's wife goes down to the Scully Square station
Everyday at quarter past two
And, through the open window, she hands Charlie a sandwich
As the trian goes rumb'ling through."
I realize the issue was that Charlie was short the five cents more. Regretably, however, I have to question the personal motives of Charlie's wife. I realize that this took place many a moon ago but, in add-a-Taxachusetts, how much did a sandwich cost? :-/

[Katahu]

I got mixed feelings for all this transit thing. We all like to see workers get paid more, but not when some of them start demanding too much to point of hurting the economy in the long run. :-/

[Politically Incorrect]

The only real way that it will hurt the economy is becasue most people are to lazy to walk or ride a bike, granted it is winter and bikes may be difficult but a little walk in a crisp winter morning cleanses the soul LOL!

Problem is like most others we have today is that people depend on others too much, such as Government or in this case Public Transit, no one is self sufficent anymore. Which I guess makes it easier to place blame on others.

So you may have to leave the house earlier to get to work, stop whining and put on a heavy jacket and get some exercise.

To use a public transit strike as a reason not to be able to get to work is a pityful excuse and just another fine example how lazy people have become. Fire all the transit workers and hire those that are needing jobs, problem solved.

[H]

...people depend on others too much, ...no one is self sufficent anymore. Which I guess makes it easier to place blame on others.

Does it make you think that most anyone from the 19th century, to say nothing of before, would be observing us with a scowl?

[beaky]

Does it make you think that most anyone from the 19th century, to say nothing of before, would be observing us with a scowl?

Anyone from the 19th century who lived in Brooklyn and worked in the Bronx would have been pretty excited when the subways became operational in the early 1900s...

It's all fine and good to encourage people to hoof it or take a bike- many New Yorkers do- but it's not an option for all. Many of the people who work in the entire city every day live somewhere else...getting a bike into town is not always so easy.
For example: today I have to go to Manhattan; I can take the NY/NJ PATH train in, but you can't bring a bike on those trains during rush hour. So I'll be walking with a load of tools, etc. from 33rd to 48th... that's 15 long blocks; just shy of a mile. I could take a cab, but I could walk halfway there before I'd find a cab...
 But my plight is minimal compared to many others. Because the city has grown to some extent around the transit system, when it shuts down, people suffer, because they have no choice but to depend on others...  And the 4-person carpool rule is going to devastate retailers and others in the city who depend on all those people coming in by car. If the strike goes on long enough, jobs will be lost, businesses will be lost, and come the next fare hike us "straphangers" will be crammed in the subway thinking: "What the hell did I get out of all that?"