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PHILADELPHIA -- Commuters laced up their walking shoes, hopped in cars and hitched rides to work and school Monday as a transit strike brought the city's buses, subways and trolleys to a halt.

Almost half-a-million people had to find alternate transportation after last-minute talks between the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and Transport Workers Union Local 234 failed to produce an agreement Sunday night.

"I'm not happy. How can you be happy?" said Chris Hambrose, who was waiting for a ride to take him from his home in South Philadelphia to his job in North Philadelphia. "But if these people feel that they have to strike, you can't take that away from them."

Hambrose, whose commute normally takes 14 minutes by subway, was one of many left gritting his teeth on the first day of a strike that idled service usually used by 460,000 people a day.

Anita Fenning and a friend planned to make a 40-block trek from South Philadelphia to their jobs downtown. "We've got a long way to go," Fenning said as she rushed to get to work on time.

No new talks were scheduled between SEPTA and Local 234, which represents about 5,000 employees, union spokesman Bob Bedard said yesterday afternoon. The United Transportation Union Local 1594, which represents about 300 suburban transit employees, is also participating in the strike.

Gov. Ed Rendell issued a statement saying he was confident an agreement could be reached if both sides would return to the bargaining table.

SEPTA spokesman Jim Whitaker said volume was heavy on commuter rail lines, which remained in service because those employees have a different union contract.

Dorothy Pollock, 54, of Broomall, said she hadn't taken the commuter rail to work since the last transit strike in 1998, which lasted 40 days. Waiting in line to go home yesterday afternoon, she said the strike had thrown off her whole day.

"I'm up at 4:30 (a.m.) now," said Pollock, who works in Philadelphia as an administrative assistant at a publishing company. "I'm exhausted ... I've taken a shorter lunch."

Others, including Eric Livingston of Drexel Hill, chose to heed the advice of the Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia and bike to work. Livingston, who usually takes SEPTA, said he dusted off his bicycle and was happy to find that his commute was six minutes shorter than usual.

The Philadelphia School District reported elementary and middle school attendance was down 4 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

But attendance at its magnet high schools, whose students come from all over the city and often rely on public transportation, dropped by as much as 30 percent, said Paul Vallas, the district's chief executive officer.

About 27,000 of the district's 185,000 students receive free or subsidized transit tokens.

Labor negotiations had been ongoing most of the weekend but broke off around midnight Sunday. Wages, work rules and the health-care plan were the main issues in dispute. Pickets were set up yesterday at several SEPTA depots and other areas, Bedard said.

SEPTA said talks broke off because union leaders rejected the agency's health-care offer, which would have required employees to pay 5 percent of the premium. Workers currently pay nothing, SEPTA said. The offer included a 9 percent pay increase over three years.

Bedard said the union supported a sliding-scale payment system for employees based on their salaries.

The union said its members have not had a raise since December 2003 and have fallen far behind the norm for employees of major transit agencies. The two sides also couldn't agree on pension issues and work rules regarding disciplinary procedures.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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