December 20, 2005 8:55 AM

Be glad you're not in New York
Posted by Jason Butlerat 8:55 AM

How was your commute? I bet it was better than the average New Yorker's this morning. Public transportation in New York has shut down due to a transit-worker strike.

An average of seven million people ride the subway every day, and the disruption will prevent people from going to work, cause millions of dollars in economic damage and seriously upend the life of the city in the week before Christmas. Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union, which represents 33,700 subway and bus workers, announced its first strike in 25 years this morning after feverish last-minute negotiations faltered over the transportation authority's demands for concessions on pension and health benefits for future employees.

I listened to 1010 WINS on my drive in from Holliston this morning, and it was an ugly scene. You can read some of their listeners' commuting experiences.