And can't they do something about the smell on the N/R?

I don't know why, exactly, but I was hoping to see the union get the pointy end of the transit strike. Maybe it's because I'm not big on unions. In the early part of the last century, they were on the side of progress; today, on issues from trade to the environment to education reform, they're more often an obstacle to progress. Maybe it's because some of the union's demands seemed greedy, and the strike seemed timed to inflict maximum pain on businesses and commuters. Or maybe it's just because I, presumably like most New Yorkers, take public transportation for granted, and only notice it when some bus driver pulls away as I'm knocking on the door, or some station agent lets me stand on the subway for an hour before announcing there's no train service.

But it occurred to me, as I watched five buses rumbling nose-to-tail up First Avenue today, that there might be a downside to the union's comeuppance: Now transit workers will give even less of a fuck.