NYC-area train stations eerily empty as NJ Transit strike brings bustling service to a grinding halt

Last call for the ghost train to Jersey.Normally bustling transit terminals were eerily empty Friday as NJ Transit engineers went on strike, bringing rail services across the state to a grinding halt and leaving hubs like Penn Station in New York eerily devoid of Garden State travelers.The platforms at the Manhattan transit stop had a post-apocalyptic feel during the early Friday rush hour after the NJ Transit engineers walked off the job over a pay dispute, triggering the first strike to hit the major transport system in more than 40 years.The strike — which left roughly 350,000 commuters in the lurch — left scores of train terminals in the Garden State, including the Harrison PATH station, virtually bare, too, as people relied on buses, cars, taxis and boats to get to work.“I left home very early because of it,” David Milosevich, a fashion and advertising casting director, said as he arrived at Midtown’s Port Authority Bus Terminal from Montclair, NJ, first thing.

Given Friday’s rail commute into New York from New Jersey is typically the lightest of the week, Milosevich and other passengers were already bracing for chaos if the strikes stretched over into Monday.“I think a lot of people don’t come in on Fridays since COVID. I don’t know what’s going to happen Monday,” Milosevich said.“Friday most people work at home, so today it was business as usual,” Cem Teber, a 31-year-old lawyer, told The Post after being forced to ditch his train in favor of a bus from North Bergen.

“The real test will be next week, come back here on Wednesday and see how it is.”Anthony Wilkerson, 34, who lives in West Orange, NJ, said he managed to snag “a seat to myself this morning” given it was Friday — but feared the bus system next week would overrun.Early indications were that the strike hadn’t resulted in any major traffic jams or epically long lines to get onto buses.But as the morning rush got underway, some commuters — including those un...