I woke up this morning to disturbing news of the New York transit strike. More disturbing, however, were the public responses by our governor and mayor demonizing the striking workers.

When an atmosphere of compromise should be our leaders' utmost effort and concern, their comments serve only to poison an already difficult situation.

Perhaps if Gov. George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had spent as much energy overseeing or guiding or somehow ensuring an agreement, we wouldn't be in this horrendous mess! May they get off their thrones, roll up their sleeves, stop blaming and get to work instead.

Laura ColbyBrooklyn, Dec. 20, 2005

To the Editor:

I walked out into my Upper West Side neighborhood this morning and thought that I was dreaming. Few cars, many cyclists and pedestrians, no horns blaring, clean air for a change. The democratic mix of street users reminded me of European cities I have visited.

It is during extraordinary events like transit strikes or snowstorms that we realize how much the automobile degrades our environment. If we can limit driving during a strike, why not when the subways and buses are running?

Kenneth M. Coughlin
New York, Dec. 20, 2005
The writer is a member of the board of directors, Transportation Alternatives.

To the Editor:

I ask the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Transport Workers Union, out of respect for the system's riders, to conclude the term of their new contract in May or June rather than in December.

Todd M. RieglerNew York, Dec. 20, 2005

To the Editor:

As a New Yorker, I'm grateful to the transit workers, who get me and millions of other New Yorkers to work every single day. It's unbelievable that the city would resort to forcing these workers back to work with threats.

Instead of hiding behind the Taylor Law, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority should pay the transit workers what they're worth.

In fact, the transit workers are asking for less than what the strike is costing the city. So why are the governor and the mayor blaming the workers instead of pressuring the M.T.A. to stop stonewalling and meet the strikers' simple demands?

The mayor promised that he would look out for the needs of the city's workers and middle class. He can start by getting the M.T.A. to negotiate in good faith and helping everyone get back to work.

Sarah EisensteinBrooklyn, Dec. 20, 2005

To the Editor:

Am I inconvenienced by the Transport Workers Union strike? Absolutely. But I am far more disturbed by the double-dealing, switch-and-bait tactics of the M.T.A.

If a strike, lamentable as it is, is what it will take for that agency and the powers-that-be to acknowledge and fairly address the needs of current and future working New Yorkers, I, for one, am willing to walk.

Bethany L. RogersNew York, Dec. 20, 2005

To the Editor:

Gov. George E. Pataki should immediately take the same action regarding the illegal strike by the transit workers as President Ronald Reagan did with the air traffic controllers: Fire them.

Norman Weil Jr.New York, Dec. 20, 2005

To the Editor:

Our family of five - my wife and I and our three young children - is coming to Manhattan this Christmas to visit my wife's mother. We will be inconvenienced by this strike if it continues and will have to cope with added delay and hassle.

To the Transport Workers Union, I say: Bravo. Stand up against the relentless attempt to grind down your wages and pensions in the face of tax cuts for the mayor and his billionaire cronies.

I look forward to coming to your city, and it will be a privilege to be among workers who should be an example to the rest of the country.

Charles SiegelDallas, Dec. 20, 2005

To the Editor:

We must not lose sight of what is really bringing this crisis about.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the mayor and soon the governor will claim that it is the intransigence of the Transport Workers Union. They will repeat their mantra "illegal strike" and cite all the inconvenience and dire consequences of the strike.

The real reason for the deadlock is a Republican-inspired sense of prerogative to undermine the last vestiges of government responsibility for retirement and medical obligations to its citizens.

The M.T.A., the mayor and the governor are willing to shut down the greatest city in the world not because of hard budget numbers but out of sheer arrogance in insisting on the right to deprive future workers of the same benefits as current T.W.U. workers.

Ever since the air traffic controllers' strike in the 1980's, the underlying strategy of the G.O.P. has been clear: Erode the benefits and obligations of the social safety net. Today, the results of this movement are apparent everywhere in our society.

Philip RichmanNew York, Dec. 20, 2005

To the Editor:

Re "Put the City in the Driver's Seat" (Op-Ed, Dec. 20):

I applaud Henry J. Stern's proposal to give New York City more control over buses and subways, but his plan doesn't go far enough.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has become a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy answerable to no one. The solution is to separate New York City Transit from the M.T.A. and create a new city department that reports to the mayor.

It is absurd that an agency like New York City Transit, which operates solely within the five boroughs and is essential to the life and economy of New York City, should not be under direct city control.

This would by no means solve all of New York City's transit problems, but it would at least tell New Yorkers that elected officials - the mayor and City Council members - will be held to account.

I urge Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to make this a focus of his second term. That would be a mayoral legacy.

Joshua RosenbaumBrooklyn, Dec. 20, 2005

To the Editor:

We all hope that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Transport Workers Union will come to an agreement soon. In the meanwhile, it's great that millions of New Yorkers are getting more exercise by walking to work.

Maybe New York will avoid holiday weight gain this year!

Heidi MochariNew York, Dec. 20, 2005