special park and ride lot near Yankee Stadium, and at Shea Stadium in Queens. The New Haven Line ran normally, stopping at Fordham only in the Bronx, as usual. Long Island Rail Road customers also faced service changes. There was no service to Bellerose, Hollis, Rosedale, Locust Manor, Saint Albans, or Hunterspoint Avenue during rush hours. Shuttle trains operated between Jamaica/Great Neck and Penn Station. During middays, additional shuttle service was provided to Bellerose and Long Island City. During the strike, the LIRR recorded a 60% increase in daily ridership compared to before the strike, and the Metro-North recorded a 40% increase. The PATH ran extra service between 33rd Street and the World Trade Center from 6 AM to 8 PM during the days of the strike. During the strike, the PATH recorded a 50% increase in daily ridership compared to before the strike. Resolution At a news conference the morning of December 22, 2005, it was announced that the state mediator, Richard Curreri, had reached a preliminary agreement between the MTA and a TWU team including Roger Toussaint for transit workers to return to work for a time without a contract. Progress had also been made on the pensions issue. At 2:35 p.m. EST, December 22, the agreement was approved by the executive board of the TWU local (36 yes, 5 no and 2 abstentions). Agreements were made on the ability to use restroom facilities by workers during shifts. Workers began to restore services. Buses and subways were restored at midnight, while signals, switches, stations, and other things were checked out. The MTA says that service was incrementally added during the later morning rush hour. By late morning service was running on a normal weekday schedule. At a news conference on the evening of December 27, 2005, Roger Toussaint announced an agreement with the MTA calling for no change in the pension, 3%, 4%, and 3.5% annual salary increases for the next three years respectively plus a 1.5% of salary cost to workers to help defray health care costs. In addition, they got Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a paid holiday — viewed to be very important, as the workforce is now mainly black (Caribbean, African-American) as well as Asian, or Hispanic. Also, the union won a refund of some prior employee pension contributions. On January 2, 2006, several TWU Local 100 representatives gathered up in Union Square