Thursday December 22, 2005

My brother Jon works for the YMCA in New York City--he commutes by bus from New Jersey. Here are his impressions from the first three days of the transit strike.

Amazing how quickly the novelty has worn off.

Day 1

I thought I would give you a first hand account of the NYC Transit Strike. As you would imagine, the streets are very busy with people who would normally be taking the subway. My walk to work (12 blocks) was very crowded, I barely had to move my feet as I was swept along with the crowd. Roads are closed to private vehicles below 98th street so all that you see are people fighting for cabs (which are taking as many fares at once as possible), charter buses trying to get people to Wall Street (to keep the financial machine moving) business people riding bicycles and roller blades and lots of police cars.

As for the YMCA, we are trying to keep all 19 branches open using all available staff. I may be off to the West Side Y soon to relive my days as a program director!

My commute was easy as the roads into the city are restricted to buses and passenger cars with at least four people.

Day 2

Things getting pretty tense on the streets, yesterday’s good humor and novelty have give way to today’s frustration. You may have seen clips of folks walking over the Brooklyn Bridge, one of my colleagues did that walk yesterday (9 miles from her home to the office). I, on the other hand have had a very easy commute, no cars on the road. Imagine traveling on 93 into Boston and being the only car on the road at 7:00am, bizarre! My commute today was just about 70 minutes (20 less than normal)

Day 3

As we enter day three of the Strike, anger and defiance seem to be the mood of the day. On Days One and Two, although the sidewalks were very busy, there was a sense of order. Today, people are simply walking in the streets among the grid locked cars. Things are so congested that it is hard not to bump into people. The common terms of “excuse me” and “sorry” have been replaced by more colorful and perhaps even seasonal phrases like “Jesus Christ” or the very common, “what the F***”!

It is best summed up a scene I witnessed on 34th Street. Despite the police officer waving cars through the intersection, people just started walking across the street (surrounding the cars and stopping the already slow moving traffic) Over the sounds of horns blaring I heard the Officer say, “Are you people F***ing crazy, these cars will crush you!”

Also, because of the overcrowded sidewalks, street vendors have not been able to set up. What this means is that I am without my 60 cent bagel this morning and it will be unlikely that you will each be receiving a very special $5.00 Rolex watch from the City!