new ways around NYC amid a transit strike
 

My daughter is in the fourth grade and didn't get to school until 12:30. We were unable to get a car until 11am; it took an hour and a half to drive seven miles. It cost my family $100 to get my daughter to and from school. I doubt she'll be going for the rest of the week. As I was walking up the street, I saw a man on crutches struggling not to slip on some ice. There were elderly people dragging boxes to the post office with makeshift handles made out of trash bags. My neighbor's frozen pipe burst and the plumber didn't arrive 'til five hours later. This strike is sickening. People are being forced into the freezing cold. It's 9:13 p.m. and we're only just getting home to make dinner.
Rachel McKibbens, Brooklyn, New York

Wow...what a day. I live in Sunnyside Queens on 41st street. My roommate and I were watching the news all morning and were advised not to bother leaving the house during rush hour because it was so impossible to get anywhere. We left around 10 am and walked up to Woodside at 61st to catch the -LIRR (20 blocks). But that was nothing compared to what we encountered when we arrived in Woodside. There was a line for LIRR tickets wrapped around an entire block. We waited in cold for 2 hours before getting on an empty train into Manhattan (all the while suffering from frozen feet and hands despite appropriate winter gear). Once there I disembarked at Penn Station and walked from 33rd and 7th to 52nd and Madison (23 blocks). I finally arrived at work at 1:30 pm where I was congratulated by co-workers for actually sticking it through and making it in. Can't wait to see what the trip home is like...
Lindsay H., Sunnyside, New York