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BOB WILLIAMS / For The Inquirer

At Suburban Station, Tila Ayala uses signs to convey her anger at the transit strike. "I want the SEPTA corporation and the union to settle now!" she said. "This is a time of recession!"

READER FEEDBACK

SEPTA strike drives commuter to protest

By Jeff Gammage, Robert Moran and Kia Gregory

Inquirer Staff Writers

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.

"I'm going to lose one of my jobs," she said, becoming teary. "I want the SEPTA corporation and the union to settle now! This is a time of recession! How dare you?"

Ayala said she depended on buses, subways, and trolleys - which aren't running - to get to jobs as a baby-sitter and community advocate. Yesterday, she set up a row of signs on the concourse, one saying, "SEPTA stop the greed and meet the need."

People in the crowded station glanced at her as they rushed past. They had their own problems and their own frustrations, battling through the fourth day of a strike that has upended hundreds of thousands of commuters and students.

Hopes flopped yesterday for an early-afternoon end to the impasse that prompted 5,100 SEPTA workers to strike at 3 a.m. Tuesday. At evening rush hour, commuters who had hoped to be back on buses and subways were instead back on their feet - walking home from work, to parking lots, or hop-skipping their way through Suburban Station, rushing to trains that were invariably late.

People were frustrated by the clogged Center City traffic, by the lines at Regional Rail stations, by striking SEPTA workers who walked away from a deal that others would have grabbed. And it's not that riders were thrilled with SEPTA before the strike.

Jackie Brown, who was trying to get home to Yeadon last night, usually rides the Market-Frankford El to work.

Her complaint about SEPTA? "The courteousness of the workers."

And by courteousness, she meant lack of courtesy. "I'm thinking about continuing to ride the train," Brown said.

Regional Rail lines have continued to run during the strike, though they have been delayed by the influx of additional riders.

Leaders of Transport Workers Union Local 234, SEPTA's largest union, this week rejected a contract offer that Gov. Rendell and Mayor Nutter called generous. The five-year deal included a $1,250 signing bonus, a 2.5 percent raise the second year, and a 3 percent raise in each remaining year.

Willie Brown, president of Local 234, said Wednesday that strikers would "stay out as long as it takes to secure our pension."

Other workers in other professions, their jobs imperiled by recession-fueled layoffs, can't understand the reasoning. Vitriol aimed at the strikers has poured onto the Internet.

On YouTube, people posted videos with titles such as "SEPTA's Stupid Strike." On Facebook, 140 people joined a group called Strike Back Against SEPTA. Many were furious at the agency's workers.

"I am ashamed that we have a transit system filled with unappreciative, ungrateful and greedy people," wrote Stephen Congelosi.

On the sidewalks of Broad Street last night, bicyclists and skateboarders mixed with pedestrians as people moved toward home.

The gates to the Broad Street subway were closed and locked. A parking lot near City Hall bore a sign offering drivers a "strike special" - $7.99. As rush hour progressed, the streets of Center City became their own parking lot.

The Please Touch Museum has one of the only operating SEPTA buses in Philadelphia - but unfortunately, it's part of an exhibit. During the strike, the museum has highlighted its Roadside Attractions exhibit by running ads at Suburban Station that say, "Play never stops."

Frank Luzi, the museum's director of media relations, said he had been leaving home about 45 minutes early but was arriving at work at the same time, about 8:30 a.m.

"A lot more people out there right now," he said, "and a lot more testy drivers."

The increase shows not just in rush-hour gridlock but in calls for help. Since the strike began, the number of motorists calling AAA Mid-Atlantic has jumped 88 percent, from 250 to 470 a day. Motorists report dead batteries, flat tires, and being locked out of their cars. And there's been an increase in calls from people who have run out of gas.

Last night, crosstown car trips that normally took 10 minutes were taking an hour.

At Suburban Station, the melody from a street musician's flute floated across the concourse, the tune, "Love Me Tender." Elvis was perhaps the only person not in the building, the station crowded with commuters, police officers, and confused first-time train travelers.

SEPTA workers in reflective yellow vests approached passenger after passenger, asking if they knew where they were going and sending them in the right direction. "I waited two hours yesterday," said Joe Doughtery, in line to board an R3 train last night. "I get on the train and it's half-empty."

At least the station was heated. Commuters waiting for trains at the Fern Rock Transportation Center braved frigid winds last night.

"When they go out, we've got to pay for it, and it's not fair," said Marvetta Wright, a home-health-care provider who has seen her commute extended by 21/2 hours.

Last night, several commuters walked passed strikers who had set up barbecue grills and a TV at Fern Rock.

"Have a nice weekend, ladies," one of the strikers called. "Sorry for the inconvenience."

Contact staff writer Jeff Gammage at 215-854-2415 or jgammage@phillynews.com.

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Comments

Posted 08:55 AM, 11/07/2009

thom

Sorry for the inconvenience? Something should have been thrown at them.

Posted 09:37 AM, 11/07/2009

drnnat

for many of us there is no choice. we either ride Septa or walk. Today I actually hitched a ride. as with the City's municipal union the Septa union is greedy. I pay my own health care premium. I pay for my own pension fund with no contribution by my company. And I'm glad to have a job. The Septa greedy pigs pay nothing and are Striking? GREED rules the day when the city unions are involved..

Comment removed.

Posted 09:41 AM, 11/07/2009

Aroonie

I would have several choice words for any greedy SEPTA worker who dared to speak to me. They've sunk beneath welfare trash in my book. The only thing they deserve is to be fired.

Posted 09:46 AM, 11/07/2009

Could.It.Really.Be...ColonelAngus

Unions, get rid of them. Times have changed. Global economy = obsolete unions

Posted 09:52 AM, 11/07/2009

Digifant

The strike is the best thing to happen to this "fat" city.

Posted 10:04 AM, 11/07/2009

starsinmypockets

One positive outcome I've seen from this whole thing is that many many people are getting on bicycles. Bicycles offer a level of independence on par with motor vehicles with the benefit of being non-polluting and healthy. Bike the strike, Philly.

Posted 10:40 AM, 11/07/2009

Wurm

Don't like workers' rights? Move to China.

Posted 11:25 AM, 11/07/2009

PhillyTownUSA

Wurum, maybe the Septa union should move to China. Unions are practically communist. The wages are not based not their individual performance, but as a block. I feel the same way about the teachers’ unions. Tenure is the worst thing out there. If you cannot be fired where is the motivation to do a good job? There may be AWESOME Septa drivers, but they are over shadowed by the bad workers. Maybe Septa could afford to pay some individuals more, if everyone wasn’t making their top pay grade within 4 years. We live is a capitalist society, your reward (salary benefits etc) should be based on individual performance.

Posted 11:32 AM, 11/07/2009

gibby58

Just report everyone of them at 215-580-7800 or 215-580-7853. Just remember to get route #, time of day,bus or trolley #. Flood the customer service center with complaints then they have no choice but to fire the bad ones.

Posted 02:45 PM, 11/07/2009

pencilchair

wurum - the right to strike doesn't mean the right to strike for any BS reason you can come up with, even if you tack on "to support our families" at the end of it. willie brown is a disgrace to honorable workers and to philly residents.

Posted 03:51 PM, 11/07/2009

lighterfluid

if unions keep this up, they will eventually run themselves out of town. people are really tired of this "we want more money for nothing from a state that is already in the top 5 of brokest states in the country". keep it up unions keep it up.

Posted 06:47 PM, 11/07/2009

Daniel Hoffman

DECERTIFY 234!

Posted 09:29 AM, 11/08/2009

lawabiding

To lighterfluid: We can only hope Sir. In a time where the bus drivers make more than the school teachers and the Mayor claims he'll have to discharge 5-20% of city employees for lack of funds this whole strike is obscene. I've ridden transit in many cities and the employees of SEPTA need to get out of town to open their eyes and experience what is happening in the rest of the country to their peers. I'm not sure why people in Philly cling to their unions so much (the recent vote to unionize the security guards at the museum being a real head scratcher for me) but hopefully this opens the eyes of the people in Philly to understand that unions are not the answer and are in fact often more a part of the problem in today's environment.