Finding three people who are going to SoHo from Grand Central at 8:30 AM isn't as easy as it sounds. Everyone seems to be going somewhere else entirely. Finally, I heard a group looking to get to the Financial District and hopped in their cab for the hellacious taxi ride. What's normally at least $20 cost half that with the new “zoning” of the city. As always, midtown was bustling with people. Vehiclular traffic was limited mostly to cabs and the few cars that did have 4 occupants. The police threatened those of us trying to hail a cab with a summons if we didn't get back on the sidewalk; I mumbled under my breath that a summons wouldn't be the worst thing the NYPD has ever done to me. The strike got me at the moment that we didn't need the police there to tell us to stay out of the street; we could manage to avoid getting hit ourselves.

Secretly, I'm hoping for a strikes by other workers, be they union-sanctioned or wildcat, large enough to really shut the economic apparatus and institution of the city down. Imagine if the buses and subways had been not only running today, but running on a better schedule on routes that made sense for the city, and for free! Support on the street seems strong. At the very least, no one's complaining. Most of the people I've talked to - and this is big enough to get people talking to strangers on the street - are very supportive of the workers of the TWU despite any inconvenience caused by the strike.