Technology helps New Yorkers cope
The last time the city had a transit strike, in 1980, a fax machine was considered cutting-edge. Fast forward 25 years, and it is a world of wireless laptops, Internet-enabled cell phones and telecommuting from your living room.
And that, some say, is a big reason the bus and subway strike has not caused the utter chaos that many people had expected.
"We're open for business as usual," said Selena Morris, spokeswoman for Merrill Lynch & Co. The financial management company had some employees working from home, while others could go to various regional offices if getting into Manhattan was too difficult.
"It makes it a lot easier for people to function when you have a crisis like this, just to log in from wherever you are," she said. "It's inconvenient, obviously, but I think we've been able to work around it."
