It's Day 2 of the Transit Strike, and New York City's commuters are trying to get back to work, hopefully having learned something from their mistakes yesterday. Like making sure you have four people in a car to enter Manhattan below 96th Street. Or making sure you remembered how to Rollerblade (we saw a couple wipeouts). Or having some pocket change ready to grab another cup of joe from a coffee cart. Newsday has a good, even-handed look at what the strike did yesterday - and what it could mean for today. The story we're most intrigued by, though, is the NY Times' explanation of the MTA's pension demands, namely how the MTA's request for workers to contribute 6% of their salary to pension funds would have only meant an MTA savings of $20 million or less annually. Which is about the amount we think they siphon just by existing. God, we hate the MTA's accounting so much.
Naturally, the tabloids are going crazy - the Post calls the Transport Workers Union rats on the cover and the Daily News has a two-to-one ratios of anti-TWU columns to pro-TWU column (an editorial and Michael Goodwin column are against, Juan Gonzalez is for). The Times has an editorial, calling this an "unneccessary strike." And, sure, Gothamist is weary of this, but we're not wasting time on vitriol - we've got miles to cover. Although if Governor Pataki attempts to run for President, we'll personally print up a 1000 posters with photographs of the transit strike, saying, "Pataki doesn't care about New Yorkers!"
Many news reports cited people (hey, New Yorkers, did you know that you take things in stride? Stride is the word of the day!) who were frustrated but were still going to go into work, but it also seemed like many people would stay home today. What are you doing?
Photograph of commuters outside Penn Station from kerfuffle and zeitgeist on Flickr via Gothamist Contribute - add your photos, comments, and links there!
