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Two New York City Bus Lines Shut Down (AP)

NEW YORK - Commuters who depend on two private bus lines were forced to find their own way home after drivers walked off the job early Monday, a predicament that could soon paralyze the entire city if the transit strike widens.
The walkout at the two Queens bus lines came as the Transport Workers Union continued to threaten a large-scale strike beginning after midnight Tuesday that could affect as many as 7 million subway and bus commuters.
"It is a little unsettling to be the first wave," said union officer George Jennings, representing bus maintenance workers. "It's going to be a rough deal. Nobody wants to go on a strike on Christmas."
After making little progress over the weekend, the union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority briefly negotiated Sunday afternoon in a midtown Manhattan hotel, but the talks were "not in the final analysis fruitful," the MTA's chief negotiator said.
"The MTA is quite concerned that we are now down to the last day before the union-imposed deadline," MTA negotiator Gary Dellaverson said, referring to the plans for a citywide strike.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in his weekly radio address Sunday, called a possible strike "reprehensible" and said it would drain $400 million a day from the economy.
Shortly after the strike at the Jamaica Buses Inc. and Triboro Coach Corp. bus lines began at 12:01 a.m., taxi and livery cabs circled a Jackson Heights transit hub looking for fares.
"If I pay them $10 every night to go home, then there's no money left for Christmas for my children," said Bobby Chen, a chef, who was trying to get to his home more than 25 blocks away.