Avoiding a 'chaotic' ride into NYC

Nick Buonadonna, 20, of Garden City landed an internship at a construction company in Manhattan between his junior and senior years at the University of Florida where he's majoring in construction management.

As an MTA worker in an orange and yellow vest yelled "Huntington on the right! Ronkonkoma on the left!" above the Jamaica 179th Street subway station, Buonadonna waited for a friend to pick him up.

"I don't want to get on the bus," Buonadonna said. "It's too chaotic."

The long lines seen at mid-afternoon were long gone as a trickle of passengers boarded the shuttle buses after leaving the subway station.

In the morning he said he got a ride into Manhattan with his uncle who drove and he figures he'll do the same if the strike continues.

The internship began today, though he had worked the same internship last summer.

"I didn't want to miss my first day back," he said. Though he made it in to work today, he said a lot people in the office did not. He said the ride in took about two hours and then he took the F train out to Jamaica after work. "I'll just have to keep doing it for the rest of the week I guess."