Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The New York Times reports:
Transit workers here went on strike early Tuesday, halting bus, trolley and subway service, and forcing hundreds of thousands of people onto packed commuter trains and roads to get to work or school. The strike by about 4,700 workers of Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority shut down transit lines that normally provide nearly a million rides each weekday.
The authority’s regional rail service — the commuter lines that extend from the city into the suburbs — continued operating, providing an alternative in some parts of the city for riders who would usually take buses or subways. The commuter trains accepted transit passes and express trains made local stops to take on more passengers.
But the regional rail service, which normally provides 130,000 rides a weekday, could absorb only a fraction of the overflow. Trains became crowded and some ran as much as an hour late into the Center City area. The transportation authority warned of possibly dangerous overcrowding on commuter rail platforms during the evening rush.
Members of Transport Workers Union Local 234 had voted to go on strike at midnight if a contract settlement was not reached, and negotiations on Monday failed to produce an agreement. The union last walked out in 2009, in a strike lasting six days.
From the Philadelphia Enquirer:
The fact is that working class people already have a harder time getting to the polls. Many either are en route before polls open or work until 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. If they don’t have public transportation, some might find it hard, or impossible, to get to their polling places before the 8 p.m. deadline. These are folks that can’t afford Uber, Lyft and taxis. They will be hard-pressed to find a carpool, as well. People have to get to polls on time. Pennsylvania could be key in determining who becomes our next president. Making it more difficult for Philadelphians to vote is just plain mean. Not only that, but it’s reckless, irresponsible and un-American.