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Surviving the SEPTA strike

 
What's running during the SEPTA strike
 
SEPTA relaxed parking regulations: List, plus map
 
Tips on getting around during the strike
 
Share tips for surviving the strike
 
Let us know: What do you think of the union's demands?
 
SEPTA's Service Interruption Guide
SEPTA strike news
Is frustration prolonging the strike?
Of the three big shot pols who set out to help mediate this strike, only congressman Bob Brady has not thus far left on bad terms.
Tentative agreement reached with Local 234
GOV. RENDELL said late last night that negotiators for SEPTA management and unionized transit workers who have been on strike for four days had agreed upon a tentative contract proposal.
SEPTA deal collapses
A tentative agreement to end the transit strike by SEPTA workers collapsed in acrimony on Saturday, leaving prospects slim for an end soon to the six-day walkout.
SEPTA union wants audit
With the collapse of contract talks and no new negotiations set, SEPTA riders have little reason to expect buses, subways and trolleys will run again soon.
Is there really a deal?
A spokesman for the TWU said that a press conference this afternoon will not include an announcement of a final deal between the union and SEPTA.
Brown's got nerve
Heller: You have to admire the massive brakes of SEPTA union boss Willie Brown. He refused to negotiate with Michael Nutter, dubbing him "Little Caesar." Little Caesar? The 1931 gangster movie starring Edward G. Robinson? Or the purveyor of 3 Meat Treat Pizza and Crazy Bread?
Gov. blames union for failed deal
The five-day strike by SEPTA transit workers is apparently not over. Gov. Rendell announced he is pulling out of negotiations, saying "I have a state to run." He also threatened to pull $7 million in state funding off the table.
Frustrated commuters deride strikers
FOR TWO YEARS, David Grooms put up with what he says was routinely nasty customer service from SEPTA, because it beat driving into work from his home in Lansdowne.
 
Eagles to open lots early if transit strike is still on
The Eagles estimate that about 20 percent of their fans use mass transit to get to Lincoln Financial Field, so if last night's tentative SEPTA proposal is not ratified today or transit operations are not resumed in time, parking for tomorrow's 8:20 p.m. game against the Cowboys could be challenging. Fans are encouraged to carpool. If there is no SEPTA resolution, lots will open at 1 p.m. tomorrow. *
Why is accurate strike info so hard to come by?
Strike fiscal impact hard to measure
Ben Waxman: I've started wondering about the SEPTA strike's fiscal impact on Philly's troubled city budget. I asked Uri Monson from the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority.
Strike drives commuter's protest
By yesterday evening, a frustrated Tili Ayala had decided to fight back, staging a one-woman protest at Suburban Station to demand an end to the transit strike.
Rendell: End of SEPTA strike near
Breaking news: The Transport Workers Union and SEPTA have each "tentatively" agreed to a deal to end the transit strike, Gov. Rendell announced late Friday.

Standing with U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, Rendell said each side would review the deal Saturday afternoon - and that he was hopeful city buses, subways and trolleys could be running by the evening.
Tentative SEPTA pact announced
Gov. Rendell and U.S. Rep. Bob Brady late last night announced a tentative agreement to end the regions paralyzing transit strike. If approved, buses, subways and trolleys could be running tonight.
Hopes fading for settlement
The Local 234 did not immediately respond to SEPTA's latest contract offer, which was seen as an indication that a settlement would not be reached in time for this afternoon's rush hour.
How dare you, SEPTA strikers
Polaneczky: Yo, SEPTA workers. Not only is your strike strangling the city, but it's a thumbed-nose to something for which most folks would give their back molars: The promise of a paycheck for the next 60 months.
SEPTA union: Strike will continue
Rendell: Nutter's tone may be an issue, but he deserves no blame for strike
Will City Go To Court To Get SEPTA Back to Work?
Friday -- SEPTA Strike Drags On
Media: Stop getting our hopes up for an end to the SEPTA strike!
Arguments for and against the TWU
SEPTA's Money
How the pension fund figures in SEPTA strike
SEPTA's pension fund, which has become a key issue in the three-day-old transit strike, contained about $640 million at the end of September, down from $719 million in June 2008.
 
Transit strike lesson: Learn to drive a bus
By Paul Davies As I stood in line waiting for my train home for more than an hour Tuesday night, I debated whether the SEPTA union president had lost his mind, or whether I should get a job driving a bus.
Commuters gritting and bearing it
As the SEPTA strike gummed up the city works for a third infuriating day, Philadelphia commuters have persevered, proving their resilience, their patience, and their resignation that there's nothing they could do.
SEPTA, TWU talking, but not to each other
Negotiators for SEPTA and the TWU Local 234 were working into the morning, independently, to solve problems with the contract offer that led to a city transit strike that has stretched into a fourth day.
SEPTA union strikes below the belt
MY FIRST thought after hearing that SEPTA had gone on strike in the wee hours of Tuesday morning was to wonder if there was space available under the Meadowlands for Willie Brown and his crew. After all, Jimmy Hoffa must get lonely.
 
SEPTA track inspector is killed by a train
A veteran SEPTA track inspector was killed yesterday morning when he was struck by a train in North Philadelphia, police said.
Brown rues 3 a.m. call to strike
When Local 234 President Willie Brown visited City Council members in City Hall yesterday, he told them his decision to take his members out on strike in the middle of the night was not a smart thing to do.
Rejected pact wasn't so bad, experts say
The proposed contract that SEPTA workers rejected was better than most workers are getting in the recession, some labor experts say. At worst, it was in line with other collective-bargaining agreements successfully negotiated in the last year.
Funding union pensions a sticking point in SEPTA talks
In the face of public opposition and political pressure, the leader of striking SEPTA workers vowed yesterday to "stay out as long as it takes" to get a better contract offer from SEPTA.
Union strikes out
No matter how long this SEPTA strike lasts, let's hope Day 2 was rock bottom. It couldn't get much worse.
Strike tests commuting skills
Hundreds of thousands of commuters are adapting to the SEPTA strike in creative, desperate ways.The shutdown of bus, subway, and trolley service in the city continues to upend lives and strain roads.
 
'Most hated' man in the city
Willie Brown used to drive a trolley. Now he's steering a union through a transit strike that's made him, as he says, "the most hated man in Philadelphia."
No talks planned
Gov. Rendell is meeting this afternoon with leaders of SEPTA's largest union in an effort to bring the three-day strike against the city's subways, buses and trolleys to a quick end.
Letters: Where was our bike-sharing?
Getting to work Tuesday morning was trouble with a SEPTA strike scare/It could have been easier if Philadelphia had Bike Share.
Letters: They're hoppin' mad about SEPTA strike
IT WAS disrespectful to Philadelphians for TWU Local 234 to strike SEPTA at 3 a.m. without warning. I passed children waiting for the bus to go to school and had to let them know SEPTA was on strike.
 
Here's the lowdown on Willie Brown
* President, Transport Workers Union Local 234. * Personal: 46, married with one child and a grandchild. * 1981: Graduated from
SEPTA railroad car burns
During a morning commute already complicated by a transit strike, a fire broke out yesterday on one of SEPTA's most heavily traveled Regional Rail lines, forcing the evacuation of about 1,000 passengers on two four-car trains.
By bike, on foot, they got there
TAMIR SMITH's route to school is usually a breeze of a subway ride, a straight shot on the Broad Street line from South Philly to the Franklin Learning Center, in Spring Garden, where he is a senior.
Negotiations: So near, yet so far
TODAY, GOV. RENDELL hopes that tempers will cool after a day of flying insults, before he tries to bring SEPTA and the striking union back to the bargaining table.
 
A new route?
AS COMMUTERS and students enter the third day of having to ask themselves how to get where they need to go - with no clear idea of how long the ordeal of the SEPTA strike will last - maybe we should be asking another question: Is it time to considering subjecting SEPTA to binding arbitration?
SEPTA: R5 fire not sabotage
Calling it the "catastrophe that wasn't," SEPTA officials said the fire that engulfed a R5 Paoli train car packed with passengers this morning was in no way suspicious or criminal.
Schools brace for strike fallout
The Philadelphia School District, which was closed yesterday for staff training, is bracing for "a dramatic effect on attendance" as the SEPTA strike enters its second day.
How to prevent the next SEPTA strike
Brown: Nutter "cut out" of future negotiations; SEPTA's offer not good enough
Cranky commuters
Even bicyclists were hemmed in by gridlock on the first day of the city's SEPTA strike. Commuters gritted their teeth and chose any means available to make due without public transit when the unexpected strike broke in the predawn hours yesterday.
Some in suburbs hit hard by SEPTA strike
The SEPTA strike didn't just wreak havoc in Philadelphia yesterday. It also stranded and frustrated city residents trying to reach jobs in the suburbs or get back, and worried some businesses that rely on reverse commuters.
 
SEPTA strikes, then and now
The last time SEPTA workers took to the picket lines was 2005. Here's a comparison of the key points: OBSTACLES
Tens of thousands of students affected by SEPTA strike
more than 58,000 Philadelphia students who use SEPTA to get to and from school were asleep when transit workers walked off the job in the wee hours of the morning yesterday.
SEPTA: We didn't mess up the pension fund
Thrown under the bus
Cab drivers voice confusion and complaints
Among taxi cab drivers, there was confusion and complaints today about thick traffic and allegations of encroachment by additional cabs in Center City.
SEPTA strike: Bad to worse
The impact of SEPTA's strike started out bad and got worse for travelers. Will today be better?
Einstein Healthcare Network was prepared for transit strike
People who work at hospitals have to show up whether buses and trains run or not. That's what they did yesterday at Albert Einstein Healthcare Network, which operates several locations, including Albert Einstein Medical Center on North Broad Street, MossRehab on Tabor Road and in Elkins Park, and an outpatient office building in Germantown.
Bus to nowhere
Inquirer editorial: Transit strikes always burden commuters, but the timing of yesterday's walkout by SEPTA employees was especially unfair.
Bikers, walkers, drivers forced to get along during strike
One side effect - or side-of-the-road effect - of the SEPTA strike seems to be a surge in bike-riders on Center City streets.
Fallout: School Attendance
Attendance took a hit in some areas of the Philadelphia School District this morning as the SEPTA strike entered its second day and students were still grappling with how to get to class.
Nutter talks tough on SEPTA strike
Nutter, Rendell blast SEPTA union for surprise strike
As hundreds of thousands of commuters and schoolchildren braced for a second day without public transit, Gov. Rendell and Mayor Nutter chastised union leaders for calling the surprise predawn strike.
DN: Gee, thanks, TWU!
From rush hour to crush hour
This evening's commute began somewhat better than this morning's - but it was still nightmarish for thousands of people stranded on the second day of the SEPTA strike.
Rendell seeks end to strike
Willie Brown, president of Local 234, said he welcomed Gov. Rendell's intervention, but he blasted Mayor Nutter as a "little Caesar."
The strike, Day Two
Thanks to the Center City traffic this morning, there was plenty of time to ponder what should be done about the strike by Transport Workers Union Local 234, which is largely the cause of all the Center City traffic this morning.
SEPTA strike affecting city athletes
The city's SEPTA strike is threatening to affect Thursday night's Class AAA boys' soccer city championship game, along with other games across Philadelphia.
What service will and won't run in a strike?
Regional Rail: Train service will be the best choice for travel in and around Philadelphia Suburban Transit: Bus, trolley, and route 100 lines will not be affected.However route service will change for those buses that normally travel into the City (See the Suburban Transit section)
Pension $ seen as ticket to end SEPTA picket
NEGOTIATIONS between SEPTA and Transport Workers Union Local 234 could resume as early as today, possibly ending a strike that left hundreds of thousands of commuters without transportation to work and school.
SEPTA Strike: Hot Button reactions
Letters: Outraged at middle-of-the-night SEPTA strike
WHILE THE local media worries about sports, the trials and tribulations of animals, and other things that don't matter in the long run, the union bozos at SEPTA decide to be sneaks and strike - yet again.
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