MARLA'S RANTS ON THE NYC TRANSIT STRIKE 0F 2005!

Oh my F ' ing gawd! For my readers who don't know: I was living and working in Manhattan. I was laid off in October due to lack of work. Not a big deal, because the company is paying my health insurance through the end of March 2006. I from Boston, so I have been traveling back and forth between my place in Manhattan and my parent's house. I am in the slow process of moving back home after my surgery.

Well, as I had pre-admission testing on Tuesday at my hospital in NYC I was there for the start of the transit strike. I arrived back in NYC Monday afternoon hoping that the strike would not occur. I stayed up till midnight to find out that the transit workers were going on strike at 3 am!!

I will now explain my dealings with the ramifications of the strike on tuesday & wednesday, then I will rant!

Tuesday I had to be at the hospital at 7:30 am. I woke up at 5:30 am not knowing what to expect with the strike. I left my building at 6:30 am to attempt to get a cab. By 6:40 I was in a cab, and learning about the modified fare changes. Well, long story short this is what I learned:

To travel below 96th street (between 5am and 11 am) all cars and cabs need four people. The driver of the cab counts as one of the four.

When you enter a cab you are charged a flat $10 to travel within that zone. When and if you cross into another zone it is $5. So if you travel within three zones it is $20.


Okay no big deal I was happy to get a cab. It cost me $20 to get the hospital. Normally it is $12 and change prior to the tip. Well all the cabs are stopping and picking up additional passengers to follow that 4 person rule. Still not a big deal. By 7 am I was at the hospital. The ride takes about 20 minutes.

I left the hospital at 10:30, got a cab right away although traffic was horrid. I didn't get home till 2 hours later. My hospital is above 96 street. And when I enter the cab there are already 2 other passengers. The cab couldn't go below 96 street as it was before 11am without 3 passengers. The girl got into the cab at 9 am. The male passenger got into the cab at 10 am and I got into the cab at 10:30. Thank gawd we were all going below 96 street. At one point it took 30 minutes to go from 114 street to 110 street. Only 4 blocks!! No wonder it took that cab 2 hours to get me back to my place. OY VEY!!!!

Yesterday (wednesday) I was coming back to Boston on Greyhound. Such the drama. Fortunately I was smart enough to take the 7am bus instead of the 8am bus I normally take. I got up at 4:30 am, left my building at 5:30 am. Went to the ATM on the corner, was able to get a cab right away. Got to Port Authority without issue. The bus leaves at 7am.... normally the start of rush hour. We take the Lincoln tunnel in to jersey instead of driving uptown. We never would have gotten out of Manhattan. Once out of the tunnel, we hop on the garden state and drive towards the GW bridge, to get into the Bronx because that is how you go on 95. Gawd, it took 2 hours. One hour of which was waiting to get to and over the bridge. N ormally the whole thing would take 40 minutes.

Well I made it to Boston in one exhausted piece. The strike better be over when I go back to NYC on Wednesday.

7 miliion people without mass transit. In the middles of winter, so very very wrong. The strike is illegal under the Taylor law and they union broke the court ordered indjuction not to strike. Silly people, management and employees will all be fined, some employees will be fired and some management will go to jail. Silly people.

Drivers in NYC are dumb. They honk during gridlock even when the light is red. They block the intersections just because the have a green light.

I am done ranting. Hopefully it will be over soon. I think the union and mta are resuming talks today about getting the workers back to work and resuming contract negotiations. Thank gawd!