Commuter Nightmare: City Plans Strike Contingency Plan

The Daily News has details about the city's plans in case there's a transit strike, and it's no joke when the Daily News calls it a "war plan." The Office of Emergency Management, Department of Transportation, NYPD and other agencies have come up with these ideas so far:

- Banning cars without passengers from entering Manhattan.
- Creating car pool-staging areas in the Shea and Yankee stadium parking lots, among other areas.
- Allowing yellow cabs to pick up additional street hails with paying customers already onboard.
- Prohibiting truck deliveries to Manhattan during peak commuting hours.
- Urging authorities who run the ferries, PATH trains and commuter railroads to increase service.

Gothamist would imagine that New Yorker behavior would run in the "we need to help each other through this" or the "screw picking up other street hails, you're my cabby!" directions. The city may also consider "Reserving stretches of key Manhattan thoroughfares - including Fifth and Madison Aves. - for emergency vehicles, cabs, livery cars and buses" and "Promote bicycling to work and arranging for secure lockup areas for bikes" which are good, but what Gothamist really wants is the city to promote telecommuting!

The last time the city developed a in-case-there's-a-strike plan was in 2002, but the transit union made a deal in time. And the transit union rallied yesterday in Union Square. Their contract expires on December 15.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on November 28, 2005 1:00 PM

Comments [rss]

stinky feet

Hipsters work? I thought they lounge around livin' off their trust funds, complaining about "gentrification" and "capitalist greed"

bp

Fuck this. At least I walk to work though I'd be all for working from home.

stinky feet

Ha Ha, I walk to work!

JP Maxwell

One word: telecommute.

$1 fare

Hmm. If only the MTA had some extra money, say a surplus of some sort...

Krissa

Last time, in 2002, I totally freaked and worried and made all these contigency plans, like a lot of people. I'll be this year, everyone will just assume they'll hammer it out, and if they don't, a lot of people won't have formed a plan.

Like me. Ha.

Toby

Very simple solution:

You strike illegally, you'll loose your job, and you'll go to jail. Just tell the union rank and file that. Downside is that you would have to hire a few thousand new people and possibly train them.

Kojak

Kojak's Strike Contingency Plan:

Stay home and sleep.

mickster

NOTE TO MTA/NYCTA:

Next time your agree to a contract with your union employees, make sure its end date is in April or May when it is nice outside and there isn't a need for holiday transit as there is on December 15...

tien

i certainly wouldn't mind biking to work, but i imagine it might be ass-cold by the time a strike is over.

and wouldn't this cause the MTA's budget surplus to vanish?