Sighs Of Relief Heard As Transit Strike Is Averted

The transit workers strike was averted. People can breathe a sigh of relief. Commuters wont have to worry about hitchhiking to work. Transit workers wont be docked pay. Life is back to normal.
One week ago, however, life was anything but normal. The commuters strike replaced budget cuts as the most pressing issue facing New Yorkers, and around Jamaica, Queens, the simple fear of a transit union strike impacted people in different ways good and bad.
As riders waited along Jamaica Avenue last Friday for the Q56 bus to arrive on 171st Street, some were prepared for the worse. While others werent prepared at all.
"Ill probably carpool if the strike happens," said a young man who didnt want to be identified. "Me and some of the neighbors got together and one day a week everyone will use their own car to drive each other around."
For students who rely on buses and trains to get to class, the thought of a day without the MTA had some thinking of taking a long vacation until the transit officials and workers resolved their differences. One student who lives in Jamaica and attends Kingsboro shrugged her shoulders when asked what her contingency plans were. "Id have to pay for a cab every day," Tonisha said. "Thats twenty dollars and twenty dollars coming back. Thats forty dollars a day. I dont know what Ill do. Ill probably not go to school at all for a while. How can I afford that?"
One woman, who travelsfrom Jamaica to Flushing every day to work, actually sided with the transit workers. At the same time, she didnt know how she would get to work in the event of a strike. "I think that they deserve a raise because the mayor raised the taxes," Joanne Grivis said. "If you raise the taxes then you have to raise the pay."
As for how she would get to work, Grivis had some ideas but nothing specific. "I would have to car pool with somebody," she said. "But I really dont know with who. Maybe Ill take those dollar cabs."
At Value Rentals, a car shop on Hillside Avenue, Larry Rosen, the proprietor, noticed a large number of people coming in to rent vans. "I turn them away though," he said. "Ive been in this business for a long time, so I can spot a cabbie a mile away. They expect that if the strike happens, that they can make money driving four or five people around at once."
Other than the cabbies, Larry hadnt noticed an increase in business since strike talks began. "I just think people are going to wait until the strike happens," he said. "Thats when theyre going to make their moves. I dont think people are preparing for it because I dont think anyone thinks that its going to happen. They think its all talk."
At Bellitte Bicycles Inc. on Jamaica Avenue at 169th Street, the workers reported some worried people coming in to buy bikes. Back during the transit strike of 1980, thousands of New Yorkers rode their bikes to work. "Now because of the weather, there arent that many," said Sal Bellitte. "But you wait, if the strike goes through, people wont be as worried about the weather."
Now all people have to worry about is dressing warm for the winter.