As the clock ticks down toward a possible transit strike, New Yorkers already are thinking about how to survive a potentially chaotic commute.

Here are a few tips to get along without our MetroCards:

• BICYCLING: Steve Leibowitz of A Bicycle Shop NYC on W. 14th St. was busy yesterday sending 24 bicycle racks to a company on Broadway. "If there's a strike come Friday morning, they wanted to set the racks up in the freight area so employees could bike to work," Leibowitz said.

  People bent on pedaling to work will find 200 miles of bike lanes and paths throughout the city, including the Brooklyn, Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges. The group Transportation Alternatives www.transalt.org estimates that most subway trips are 5 miles or less, a bikeable distance.

  Leibowitz suggests that bicycles be equipped with a bell and a light and that riders wear reflective clothing and a helmet.

• DRIVING: Anticipating massive gridlock, officials plan to bar passenger-free cars from coming into Manhattan. Cars entering Manhattan will be required to have at least four people from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. Commercial traffic also will be forbidden south of 96th St. during the morning rush hours.

  To help drivers looking for passengers, plans call for the opening of car pool staging areas throughout the city.

• TAXIS: The city contingency plan allows cabbies to pick up more than one fare at a time, meaning a potentially big payday for cabbies. But Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, advised drivers not to do that — saying that cabbies are "not going to scab for the city."
• OTHER PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Although the city's trains and buses might screech to a halt, Metro-North, Long Island Rail Road, NJTransit and PATH train service will keep rolling.

  Officials plan to open park-and-ride lots close to Metro-North and LIRR stations and ferry terminals. Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium and Belmont Park all will be designated park-and-ride locations.

  Metro-North also is planning to build a temporary platform near Yankee Stadium to shuttle passengers to Grand Central Terminal.

• WALKING: Mayor Bloomberg, who took heat for bracing for a 2002 strike that never happened by buying a $663 27-speed bike, has said he might be hoofing it with the masses. The mayor said he plans to sleep on a cot at the city emergency management office in Brooklyn and get to work by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall.

  Manhattan podiatrist Dr. Robert Maccabee advises fleet-footed commuters to invest in sensible shoes. "Pack the shoes, wear the sneakers," he said. "I think anything that's soft, comfortable and gives you some support."

  The transit strike of 1980 began the trend of women commuting in sneakers and stowing their office heels in bags.