Wider Angle: MTA Workers Strike Out

I'm working from home today since I'm one of the lucky New Yorkers who can do that with their job, thanks to the glory that is the Internet, but most people are walking, biking, or inexplicably driving to work in Manhattan today to get around the strike by MTA workers.

There's been a lot of rational argument on both sides so I'm having a hard time knowing who to side with (the workers already get paid well and have benefits; the MTA is trying to backhand the workers and are corporate criminals) but the bottom line is that it doesn't matter who I support because I can't make a difference, so who cares. What matters is that the city is fucked right now.

At about 3 AM last night, the Transportation Workers Union officially began their strike against the MTA, shutting down the city’s subways and bus lines and transforming New York from a functioning metropolis to a dripping shitbag of inconvenience. Or, for those of you who don’t have to trek into the office: SNOWDAY!
If you’ve no choice but to walk or bike to work, we salute your bravery (high of about 35°F today, kids); for those of you planning on sharing a cab with strangers, pack your shiv.

For the moment traffic seems to be running surprisingly smoothly.

From before dawn, police set up checkpoints at bridge and tunnel entrances and at 96th Street in Manhattan, turning away cars carrying fewer than four people as well as trucks.
Cars and taxis were backed up, waiting up to 40 minutes to get into Manhattan, where traffic was still moving because so many cars were being refused entry. Many commuter buses, suburban trains and ferries were still running and some Wall Street firms had provided shuttle buses from major hubs.