For commuters, the second day of the SEPTA strike was a test of their ingenuity, patience and, in the case of some rail riders, nerves.

Alicia Boyd, 40, a data-entry clerk, boarded an inbound R5 regional train before 7 a.m. at Overbrook Station. Immediately, she could smell burning rubber. Passengers in the first car were moved to the one behind, moments before the first car burst into flames, she said.

The fire was electrical and not the result of sabotage, SEPTA said. No one was injured, but the emergency rattled riders already frazzled by the strike. Passengers in a packed car behind the burning one had to kick open windows to climb out.

"The whole front car was black and melting," Boyd said. "It was incredible."

The shutdown of bus, subway, and trolley service in the city continues to upend people's lives and strain roads as well as SEPTA's still-functioning Regional Rail system.

Hundreds of thousands of commuters have had to adapt in sometimes creative, desperate ways.

Jamir Solomon, 15, a sophomore at the Charter High School for Architecture and Design, reached into his closet for the skateboard he had not touched in a year. He rode it from his family's home in Pennsport more than two miles to his school, at 675 Sansom St. in Center City.

"My stepdad told me I had to come" to school, Solomon said. "I had no choice in the matter. It's better than walking."

De-Sean Fennell, 16, a junior at Roman Catholic High School, has never missed a day of school. Not willing to let SEPTA ruin his perfect record, he walked more than eight miles from his North Philadelphia home Tuesday.

He took the train yesterday, but still expected to walk home from tennis practice in East Falls - a 30-minute hike.

The strike, he said, "pretty much affects my whole life."

Public school students were off Tuesday for the election, making yesterday a better measure of the strike's impact. About 35,000 district students use mass transit.

But the addition of those riders did not overwhelm the system, said MaryAnn Tierney, the city's emergency manager. Yesterday "was pretty much the same as" the first day of the strike, she said.

The Philadelphia School District reported that attendance at neighborhood and magnet high schools was down about 16 percent.

Many students arrived at their schools exceptionally early, dropped off by parents who needed to get to work themselves. And many parents, bracing for a tough rush hour home, inquired about picking up their children later than usual.

Rob Wonderling, president of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, warned that the strike was causing short-term and long-term damage to the city's economy.

When people have to change their commuting habits, arriving later or leaving earlier, they don't frequent downtown shops as much during the day, he said.

Wonderling added that the strike would hurt productivity as workers worried about getting to work on time.

But more damaging, he said, is the hit to the city's image. By coincidence, on the first day of the strike, the chamber was hosting a delegation of foreign journalists who cover shipping and ports.

"It's a black eye in our ability to market the region as a world-class place to do business," Wonderling said.