The predictable chain of events followed. BEST buses bore the brunt of the peak-hour commuter loads, and of course, the meters ticking through myriad traffic snarls in the city ensured that the ubiquitous autos and taxis got their slice of the pie.

BNHS PRO Isaac Kehimkar reached office four hours late. ``At around 9.15 I heard an announcement at Chembur station that trains were delayed due to some violence, so I got off and went home to fetch my wife. The buses were jampacked, so we decided to take a taxi to town. But that was a mistake. We reached office past 12 noon after paying Rs 200.''

Thousands of commuters were trapped in trains held up midway between railway tracks. ``Some of the trains had perhaps deliberately been stopped on overbridges, there was no way we could get off,'' an angry commuter said. Manmohan Soman, an engineer with TataConsulting Engineers, reached his office nearly two hours late. He boarded the 8.30 fast to CST, but the train slowed down and halted at Kurla. ``There were trains on every platform,'' he observed. After a painful silence of nearly half an hour, commuters were informed of the strike. Soman leapt into a passing harbour line local that was again held up at Sandhurst Road due to backlog of trains.