(The following story by Susan Snyder appeared on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on November 4, 2009.)
PHILADELPHIA — The strike against SEPTA’s subways, buses and trolleys in the city spread to the suburbs this morning as pickets blocked buses at a still operating terminal and a fire on a Regional Rail train further complicated an already messy mass transit picture.
No one was hurt in the fire in the last car of an R5 train in West Philadelphia, and officials do not believe it was strike related or suspicious. Service on the R5 and R6 has been suspended indefinitely through the area while workers try to clear the area. Major delays are expected.
Meanwhile, drivers and workers at SEPTA’s Victory Division bus line are not on strike, but only a handful of buses left the 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby after striking workers picketed the facility. As of shortly before 8 a.m., the pickets were continuing to affect the area, SEPTA officials said.
As the strike entered its second day, commuters are somewhat better prepared to get to work because they were not caught off guard as they were yesterday morning, but the added challenge this morning is the return of tens of thousands Public School students after a day off.
No talks are scheduled to end the strike by 5,000 members of the Transport Workers Union Local 234 who walked off the job at 3 a.m. yesterday, shutting down subway, trolley and bus service in the city.
Today the walkout will directly affect 47,000 public and charter school students who have mass transit passes but were off yesterday. Another 11,000 parochial and private school students, who had school yesterday, also have transit passes.
As public schools students and their families wrestled with finding ways to school, motorists set out early in an effort to beat the traffic and find parking spaces.
Traffic started building earlier than usual on I-95, the Schuylkill Express and the Vine Street Expressway, all of which were clogged by additional vehicles yesterday morning.
Riders on the still-operating Regional Rail lines also caught trains earlier than usual to avoid the crowds that delayed service by up to 30 minutes yesterday and to get a parking spot at some suburban stations where parking is limited.