In the meantime, buses, subways and trolleys throughout the region fell idle, forcing 400,000 daily riders to make other arrangements or stay home.
Striking workers chanted and waved signs around city and suburban stations, some getting an earful right back.
"You work for your rights and that's cool, but I've got to get downtown," John Tillman, who runs a moving company, screamed at pickets near the Market-Frankford El terminal at Bridge and Pratt Streets. "I've got three jobs today, and I can't move myself."
Others honked car horns in support as they passed the strikers.
For longtime residents, Day One followed a familiar script of congested streets, absent employees and cattle-car conditions on SEPTA's Regional Rail lines, the system's only major component still running.
Between 7 and 8 a.m., the average rush-hour speed on the eastbound Schuylkill Expressway was 32 m.p.h., down from 52 m.p.h. the previous Monday, according to www.traffic.com, a traffic-monitoring Web site.
Absenteeism in some public schools was up by as much as 20 percent in Philadelphia, where thousands of children ride SEPTA to classes.
The only real suspense was how long this mess might last. The 1998 strike turned into an epic of biblical proportions: 40 days and 40 nights.
Count on it continuing for at least another day. Exhausted and frustrated, labor negotiators failed to meet yesterday after hitting a midnight impasse.
State and local politicians, largely silent before the strike, began publicly nudging negotiators back together.
"With contract negotiations cut off, there is no hope" of settling, Gov. Rendell said. "I am confident that if SEPTA and labor leaders return to the bargaining table, a fair resolution can be reached."
For some commuters, the strike meant long treks to unfamiliar Regional Rail stations, instead of their usual subway, trolley and bus stops.
