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.