Reply #13: NYC Transit System Shuts Down After Talks Break Off

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Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- New York City's transit system shut down today for the first time in 25 years as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority failed to reach a new contract with 32,000 bus and subway workers.

The move, echoing a 1980 strike that halted the U.S.'s largest transit system for 11 days, triggered Mayor Michael Bloomberg's emergency plans to keep the city moving. Vehicles entering the busiest part of Manhattan this morning are required to carry at least four people, and taxi drivers are allowed to fill their cabs with passengers going to different destinations.

Members of Transport Workers Union Local 100, who stranded about 50,000 riders in a walkout at two bus lines serving Queens yesterday, struck the rest of the city's bus and subway system, which carries 7 million riders a day. The strike came four days after the union's contract expired Dec. 16.

``We did not want a strike, but apparently the MTA, the governor and mayor did,'' Roger Toussaint, Local 100's president, said in calling the strike about 3 a.m. local time. No date was set for a resumption of talks.

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