NEW YORK, NY December 16, 2005 —New York City's transit union called a selective strike against two private bus lines Friday, putting off a crippling citywide shutdown, as it rejected what the system later said was its final offer. The roughly 55,000 riders of those two bus lines in Queens will be able to get home today, but their options are less clear for Monday. WNYC's Fred Mogul explains.

REPORTER: Jamaica Buses and Triboro Coach are private lines in the process of being folded into the MTA. But for now they're still private. Orlando, a driver for Triboro, hopes there won't be a strike, but he says he doesn't mind being in the vanguard if it happens. Unlike his counterparts in the rest of the union, Orlando's not yet a public employee, so he is not subject to the steep fines imposed by the Taylor Law.

ORLANDO: I don't mind so much, because we don't have that fine, you know. 'course you know the rest of them have that Taylor Law, it would be hard for them. But for me it would be all right.

REPORTER: The union has not set a specific timetable of this strike or the much broader one it says it will unleash next week, if no settlement is reached. For WNYC, I'm Fred Mogul.