NEW YORK, Dec 19: New York commuters are bracing for their worst nightmare – a public transport strike just days before Christmas holidays, which could cost the city in excess of $400 million a day.

The city’s transit workers unions have threatened a job walkout despite threats of heavy fines and layoffs if their demands for pay raise and other demands are not met.

On Monday commuters who depend on two private bus lines were forced to find their own transportation after drivers walked off the job.

The walkout at the two Queens bus lines, which together serve 50,000 commuters, came as the Transport Workers Union continued to threaten a large-scale strike beginning on Tuesday. The city’s buses and subways, the nation’s largest transit system, serve up to seven million riders per day.

“It is a little unsettling to be the first wave,” said union officer George Jennings, representing bus maintenance workers. “It’s going to be a rough deal. Nobody wants to go on a strike on Christmas.”

The citywide bus and subway strike would be New York’s first since an 11-day walkout in 1980.

After making little progress over the weekend, the union and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority briefly negotiated on Sunday afternoon in a midtown Manhattan hotel, but the talks were not fruitful, the MTA said.

“We will not delay this deadline,” union chief Roger Toussaint told news reporters.