Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Striking subway and bus workers in New York City ended a three-day walkout today.

Transport Workers Union Local 100 leaders agreed to call off the strike while negotiations on a contract resume, said Richard Curreri, a state mediator. The union's board voted 36-5 with two abstentions this afternoon to accept the return-to- work plan, board member Eladio Diaz said.

Between 10 and 16 hours will be needed to get the city's subways and buses running normally again, according a statement from New York City Transit, which operates the buses and subways. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said some buses will be back on the streets tonight and ``hopefully most subways'' will be open by the morning.

``The process of restoring normal subway service is complicated,'' the agency's president, Lawrence Reuter, said in a statement.

Union leaders faced fines and possible jail time when they agreed to end the strike, New York's first transit shutdown in 25 years. Without public transportation, which normally carries 7 million riders a day, New Yorkers were forced to carpool, walk, bike and share cabs to work, or stay home.

``Both parties have a genuine desire to resolve their differences,'' said Curreri, director of conciliation for the State Public Employment Relations Board.

New York's economy may have lost $1 billion over the three days, according to preliminary estimates by city officials.

`Economic Harm'

``This was a great test for our city,'' Bloomberg said at a City Hall news conference after the end of the strike was announced. ``We passed the test with flying colors. It wasn't easy, and certainly serious economic harm was inflicted.''

The mayor added, ``let us hope we can salvage the rest of our week,'' noting there will be two more shopping days until Christmas. The city's government lost $10 million a day because of overtime costs and $12 million in daily sales tax revenue, the mayor said, citing preliminary estimates.

The union was under ``tremendous pressure'' to end the strike against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority because of fines, lost pay and public opinion, said Peter Panken, a lawyer with Epstein Becker & Green who represented a Westchester County company in negotiations with the union earlier this year.

``From the public relations standpoint, I think the union has had a disaster, because everybody forced to get to work is having difficulty,'' Panken said. ``The public is mad beyond belief.''

Thanks

Union president Roger Toussaint announced the vote of his board to end the strike at 3 p.m. ``We thank the riders for their patience and forbearance,'' said Toussaint in a brief statement. The last strike in 1980 lasted 11 days.

The largest mass transit system in the U.S. came to a standstill Dec. 20 when the 32,000-member Local 100 rejected a three-year MTA contract offer that called for new employees to contribute more of their wages to a pension plan.

Formal negotiations will be scheduled ``in short order,'' Curreri said. The MTA's pension proposal is still on the table, along with possible changes in health benefits, he said.

The mediator's announcement at 11 a.m. came as top union officials, including Toussaint, were scheduled to appear before a Brooklyn judge on possible contempt charges that could have brought jail time and fines of $1,000 a day each.

Fines

A state law prohibiting walkouts by public employees penalizes strikers two days' pay for every day of work missed. In addition, State Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones fined the union $1 million for each day of the walkout, and city officials today were planning to press a separate suit for millions in damages.

``The penalties and fines under the Taylor Law are automatic,'' Governor George Pataki said after the strike ended. ``They cannot be waived. They will not be waived.''

A hearing on the sanctions was postponed until 4 p.m., and Jones then put off all union penalty matters until Jan. 20, including the city's suit, personal contempt citations against Toussaint and other Local 100 officers. Noting there is no contract settlement, the judge said, ``I want those negotiations to take place in an atmosphere in which the court is not seen as influential on other side.''

Earlier, Darren Dopp, a spokesman for New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, said the fines ``still stand. That's the law.''

Blackout

Curreri said a ``media blackout'' will be imposed as an aid to the negotiations. ``There have been assorted leaks of various varieties,'' he said. ``It tends to be one step forward, two or three steps back with these type of things.''

Curreri said he couldn't identify a turning point in the marathon talks leading to the agreement.

``I can't tell you what the magic is,'' he said. ``You basically sit with both parties and attempt to get them focused on the issues and less focused on the strike, which stands in the way of the parties' taking more rational views.''

The strike forced workers, shoppers, schoolchildren and visitors to find alternative transportation amid frigid weather, and hurting holiday sales at the city's retailers.

Passengers displaced from city buses and subways waited at times for hours at Pennsylvania Station and other commuter rail terminals to use suburban trains making limited city stops. Cars with fewer than four people were barred from entering the heart of Manhattan during the morning rush hour, and taxi drivers were permitted to fill their cabs with passengers going to more than one destination.

Angry Words

The announcement came a day after Toussaint, Governor George Pataki, and Bloomberg traded angry accusations over the strike.

Bloomberg called union leaders ``selfish,'' ``greedy'' and ``thuggish'' for ``claiming to be the champions of working families when the illegal actions are taking or costing New Yorkers their livelihoods.''

Toussaint said, ``We are not thugs, we are not greedy'' and that he was defending his workers' right.

New Yorkers welcomed news of the strike's conclusion.

``It's really good,'' said Kevin Distel, 39, who was walking in Central Park when told the strike was over. ``Judging from the press conference yesterday, I thought it was getting personal but cooler heads have apparently prevailed. I thought it was going to go a long time, at least until Friday.''

New York City Transit said people with weekly and 30-day unlimited ride MetroCards would be credited for three additional days to use them.

Overnight Talks

Local 100's parent, the Transport Workers Union of America, refused to support the strike, and national president Mike O'Brien urged the workers to return to the their jobs.

Union and MTA negotiators returned early this morning to a midtown hotel for their first face-to-face meeting since talks broke off Dec. 19.

In its last offer before the strike, the MTA offered a three-year contract with raises of 3 percent, 4 percent and 3.5 percent through 2008. The transit agency, whose board is dominated by Pataki appointees, also agreed to retain the union's full pension eligibility age at 55, on condition new hires contribute 6 percent of their wages toward pensions, up from the 2 percent members currently pay.

Subway operators earned an average of $62,438 a year, including overtime, under the previous three-year contract, the MTA said. Train conductors averaged $53,000, subway booth clerks $50,720, and bus drivers $62,551.

The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in New York at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net; Josh P. Hamilton in New York at jphamilton@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 22, 2005 17:20 EST