Train Fire, School Reopening Aggravate Philadelphia Transit Strike

November 4, 2009 11:12 a.m. EST

Philadephia, PA (AHN) - A fire in the train traveling the Paoli-Thorndale route during the morning rush gave Philadelphia commuters more reason to worry on Wednesday, the second day of a strike by transit workers. Public schools in the city also opened after closing for a day for a pre-scheduled teacher seminar.

A fire near Overbrook Station halted service on the R5 and R6 lines, according to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). Service was restored two hours later.

SEPTA's train view service showed delays on nearly all trains. The agency announcing midmorning that all its lines were "experiencing significant delays due to high passenger volume."

Unlike the previous day, Wednesday's commute included students, teachers and administrators of the School District of Philadelphia, who were returning after a "professional development day" for staff.

The District had sent parents letters and issued memos to employees last week that schools and offices would be open during a SEPTA strike, and all after-school programs would continue as scheduled.

"Parents, who have children that usually take SEPTA to school, should make alternate transportation arrangements for children to attend school," the District said. "If a student cannot attend school due to the SEPTA service interruption, parents should contact the child's teacher for assignments."

The District has set up a Website for staff, who had been warned that they would be coded if they are absent, to sign up for car pools.

The work stoppage by the Transport Workers Union Local 234 began at 3:00 am ET on Tuesday, only hours after Philadelphia hosted the World

Series. Affected by the walkout are trolley routes 10, 11, 13, 15, 34 and 36, and all lettered city transit bus routes as well as 1 through 89. Owl service and Frontier Bus routes 90 through 99 have also been affected.

Regional rail is operating, as well as bus, trolley and high speed lines in suburban areas, except route 116. The green and gold loop service from 30th Street Station into University City is also still running.

Mayor Michael Nutter has activated the city's emergency operations center in response to the strike, suspending parking restrictions in selected locations and increasing the number of vehicles providing taxicab service.

The mayor's office has also partnered with the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia to urge commuters to use bikes during the walkout, citing health benefits and the fact that Philadelphia has the highest number of commuters who use bikes to go to work in the nation's 10 largest cities.

The Bicycle Coalition is offering parking corrals, fee coffee and bike maps at a "Bike the Strike" station in Dillworth Plaza at City Hall.

TWU's contract expired on March 15, without any new agreement despite talks with SEPTA since December last year. The contract covers 4,700 bus, subway and trolley workers in the city.

The union wants a 4 percent annual pay raise and a $25-per-month increase in pension payments for each year of service. It originally sought a 6 percent annual wage hike. But transit officials had proposed no pay raises for the next five years, and then offered a 2 percent increase for the third and fourth years of service.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, SEPTA was proposing a 2.5 percent increase in the second year and 3 percent hikes for every year thereafter, when negotiations broke down.

The transit agency had prepared a service interruption plan for commuters last Wednesday, but over the weekend said the intervention of Nutter and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell had pushed both sides to continue negotiations "until a tentative contract agreement is reached."

Rendell said in a statement on Tuesday said TWU leaders had rejected a "sensational" contract offer.

"It was an excellent contract, but union leadership walked out on a big victory for their members," Rendell said. "They are not in touch with the economic conditions affecting all of us."

SEPTA serves 3.9 million riders in the counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia. Rising unemployment and the recession nationwide has prompted many transit agencies to lay off and implement cost cutting measures. SEPTA suffered declining commuter traffic as well but posted a 1 percent increase in ridership in the 2009 fiscal year, which ended on June 30. The additional trips translated to $12 million, or 3 percent more in revenues.

The last TWU strike in the city was during a seven-day walkout in 2005. The union has held 11 strikes so far in the past three decades.