commuters in philadelphia endured a second day without subway, trolley or bus service in the city as a transit strike continued wednesday. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re not at a complete standstill. things are moving, just very slowly,<u+201d> said samantha phillips, the city<u+2019>s emergency management director. traffic volume is higher than usual across the city, she said. trains between the suburbs and the city, one of the few transit services still operating, have experienced delays up to 80 minutes because of very high demand, according to transit officials. more than 4,700 transit workers have been off the job since early tuesday, when the transport workers union local 234 struck amid contentious contract talks. key issues include wages, pension benefits and health insurance coverage. the southeastern pennsylvania transportation authority said agency and union negotiators are making <u+201c>steady progress<u+201d> toward a contract, with more talks expected wednesday. agency officials declined to elaborate. union officials couldn<u+2019>t immediately be reached for comment wednesday. septa has said it would ask a judge to order employees back to work for a day if the strike isn<u+2019>t over by election day next tuesday. if voters have difficulty getting to the polls, that could hurt democrat hillary clinton, who is counting on a big win in the city to help her carry pennsylvania, said terry madonna, a pollster at franklin & marshall college in lancaster, pa. agency spokeswoman carla showell-lee said there is <u+201c>too much is at stake<u+201d> for either side to not fully engage in negotiations. the transit services affected by the strike normally provide nearly 900,000 rides a day. to ease the impact of the disruption, the city is running a shuttle service for municipal employees and jurors. in addition, universities and hospitals are operating shuttles, ms. phillips said. bike-share operator indego said it is boosting capacity in certain locations for the morning and afternoon commutes, and the city has installed additional bike racks at some municipal buildings. philadelphia mayor jim kenney has urged people to check with their employers about altering their work schedule and to use alternatives such as carpooling, walking and biking. ms. phillips said there are positive signs, including no reported increase in the number of car accidents. <u+201c>people are obviously frustrated, but i think for the most part people are really handling this quite well and taking it in stride,<u+201d> she said. write to scott calvert at scott.calvert@wsj.com corrections & amplifications: the transport workers union local 234 was incorrectly called the transportation workers union local 234 in an earlier version of this article. (nov. 9, 2016)
philadelphia transit workers<u+2019> strike enters second day - wsj
scott calvert