Commuters in New York are starting the week facing travel chaos as a strike on the Long Island Railroad enters its third day, and its first during the working week.
Around 3,500 workers on the train service — which connects around 8 million people living on Long Island with Manhattan and the rest of New York City — started striking just after midnight on Friday amid a dispute over pay and working conditions. The LIRR serves roughly 300,000 passengers a day.
“LIRR service remains suspended due to the strike. Please work from home if you can,” the railroad’s official X account posted at around 5 a.m. on Monday.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday shared a number of alternative travel arrangements for commuters impacted by the strikes.
These include city-run shuttle buses from Long Island into the city, which began at 4:30 a.m. Monday, as well as more frequent services on Nassau County buses, and the opening of parking lots at Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets, for commuters to park and take the subway into the city.
“We all know that the railroad is the lifeblood of Long Island,” Hochul said in a Sunday press conference. “Without it, life as we know it is simply not possible. The bottom line is, no one wins in a strike. Everyone is hurt.”
The strike, the first on the LIRR since 1994, comes as unions representing workers failed to reach a pay deal with New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
“Obviously, this is not the result we were looking for,” the MTA’s CEO, Janno Lieber, said in a statement soon after the strike began.
“Like Governor Hochul said, everybody loses in a strike — the MTA, the thousands of workers who are going to lose wages, and most of all, the riders who rely on the railroad every day,” Lieber added.
“We cannot responsibly make a deal that implodes MTA’s budget,” he continued.
The strikes come as New Yorkers gear up to escape the city for the Memorial Day weekend, with many depending on the LIRR to whisk them away to the Hamptons, the popular vacation destination around 70 miles from the city at the eastern end of Long Island.
Talks are set to resume between unions and the MTA on Monday after the National Mediation Board stepped in on Sunday.
Blade, the helicopter charter company, seized the moment to run an ad for its services on X on Sunday.
“BLADE commuter seats are now just $95,” founder and CEO Rob Wiesenthal wrote, adding that the prices are valid until the LIRR strike ends. A same-day ticket booked on Blade without the promotional pricing costs $210.
At the same time as the LIRR’s strikes, transportation workers on the London Underground are also set to walk out over pay and working conditions. Two 24-hour strikes are planned in the British capital for Tuesday and Thursday.
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