Philadelphia, Oct 31 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The SEPTA strike deadline for 12:01 am has passed with SEPTA and its largest union still continuing their negotiations till early this morning.

Gov. Rendell and Mayor Nutter had arrived at the Holiday Inn in Center City, in the wee hours of the morning, just before 1 a.m. with high hopes of negotiating a settlement overnight.

There were hours of direct and indirect negotiations, which had originally begun yesterday evening. U.S. Rep. Bob Brady mediated them, and after hours of negotiation there wasn’t any light on what would eventually happen.

Hours before the deadline, the mayor and the governor had expressed hope that the strike would eventually be averted, but Local 234’s president had been very pessimistic about the prospect of an agreement being reached without a strike.

“I’m anticipating service will continue through the weekend,” Nutter said. He said he could not imagine a strike “with all that is at stake, with all the inconvenience and disruption” that a walkout would mean.

Gov. Rendell urged ‘SEPTA’s 5,100 unionized bus drivers, subway and trolley operators, and mechanics not to strike during the World Series, saying it would give Philadelphia “a little bit of a black eye” on the national stage’.

But Willie Brown, president of Transport Workers Union Local 234, said during a lull in the negotiations about 9:30 p.m. that he was “95 percent” certain there would be a strike at 12:01 a.m. today.

“I have a feeling it’s either going to be a very short strike or a very long strike,” Brown said.