Some left extra early to avoid problems. A few, unaware that the strike was underway, showed up and waited for trains that weren’t going to arrive.
Early indications were that the strike hadn’t resulted in major traffic jams or epic lines to get onto buses. Friday’s rail commute into New York from New Jersey is typically the lightest of the week.
But there was some confusion and extra costs as passengers tried to figure out alternate routes in a system that, besides helping New Jerseyans get to work or into Manhattan to see a Knicks game or a Broadway show, also helps New Yorkers get to Newark Airport or concerts at the Meadowlands.
David Milosevich, a fashion and advertising casting director, was on his way to a photo shoot in Brooklyn. At 1 a.m. he checked his phone and saw the strike was on.
“I left home very early because of it,” he said, grabbing the bus in Montclair, New Jersey, and arriving in Manhattan at 7 a.m. “I think a lot of people don’t come in on Fridays since COVID. I don’t know what’s going to happen Monday.”
Strike comes after talks this week didn’t result in a deal
The walkout comes after the latest round of negotiations on Thursday didn't produce an agreement. It is the state's first transit strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management.
“We presented them the last proposal; they rejected it and walked away with two hours left on the clock,” said Tom Haas, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri appeared Friday alongside Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy at a news conference. They said they got close to what the union was seeking on wages but raised concerns about the longer-term fiscal health of the transit agency.
“What’s the point of giving you a pay raise if a couple of years from now your job is not going to exist?” Kolluri said. “That’s sort of what we’re talking about in the most plain and simple terms.”
Groups of picketers gathered in front of transit headquarters in Newark and at the Hoboken Terminal, carrying signs that said “Locomotive Engineers on Strike” and “NJ Transit: Millions for Penthouse Views Nothing for Train Crews.”
BLET National President Mark Wallace walked the picket line outside New York City's Penn Station, and he said the engineers are committed to staying on strike until they get a fair deal. Union members were nearly unanimous in authorizing a strike last summer, and 87% of them rejected the latest agreement.
Wallace said NJ Transit needs to pay engineers a wage that’s comparable to Amtrak and Long Island Railroad because engineers are leaving for jobs on those other railroads for better pay,
The next talks are scheduled for Sunday with the help of federal mediators. The parties met Monday with a federal mediation board in Washington, and a mediator was present during Thursday’s talks.
The union has seen steady attrition in its ranks at NJ Transit as more of its members leave to take better-paying jobs at other railroads. The number of NJ Transit engineers has shrunk from 500 several months ago to about 400. The engineers are responsible for operating trains, ensuring safe and smooth transport between stations,
Strike leaves some concerned, frustrated
Many people were concerned not only with their morning commute but making sure they had a way to get home.
“When I come back home to New Jersey what do I do?” nurse Pam Watkins, of Edison, asked an NJ Transit customer service helper on her way to work on Brooklyn on Friday morning.
The worker helped her punch through a touch screen that would help her use her commuter ticket for the bus back.
“I don’t want to be figuring it out on my way home,” she said.
Some riders who were unaware of the strike learned what had happened as they waited at transit stations early Friday for trains that would not be coming. Others sought help to get to their destinations.
“How do I get to Newark (Liberty Airport)?” entrepreneur Vishal Gonday, with a large red suitcase in tow, asked a reporter after trying to get a train ticket at an automated terminal. “It has kind of messed up my plans” he said, adding he was trying to get a flight to India.
One frustrated commuter, who works on a in a train yard for a rail freight company, had no sympathy for the engineers on strike, who he called “greedy.”
“They are not appreciative of what they have,” said David Lopez, a track worker in a train yard as he was, trotting off the PATH train from New Jersey.
“Trains are never on time and they still complaining about funding,” he said. Riders like him suffered the consequences of delays, he said, calling the striking workers “greedy, greedy, greedy.”
NJ governor says deal needs to be fair to employees and affordable
Murphy said it was important to “reach a final deal that is both fair to employees and at the same time affordable to New Jersey’s commuters and taxpayers.”
The announcement came after 15 hours of nonstop contract talks, according to the union.
NJ Transit — the nation's third-largest transit system — operates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. The walkout halts all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.
The agency had announced contingency plans in recent days, saying it planned to increase bus service, but warned riders that the buses would only add "very limited" capacity to existing New York commuter bus routes in close proximity to rail stations and would not start running until Monday.
Amid uncertainty ahead of the strike, the transit agency canceled train and bus service for Shakira concerts Thursday and Friday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
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Associated Press reporters Cedar Attanasio and Larry Neumeister in New York, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.
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