Train drivers in New Jersey stopped working on Friday. About 350,000 people who travel to work in New Jersey and New York City had to find another way to travel or stay at home.

The workers stopped working because they couldn't agree on a deal on Thursday. This is the first time in 40 years that public transport workers in this state have gone on strike. It happened one month after most of the workers voted against a work agreement with the bosses.

"We gave them our final offer, but they said no and stopped talking to us with two hours still to go," said Tom Haas, who is in charge of the train engineers' union.

NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri said they have stopped talking for now.

He said on Thursday that he hoped to continue these talks very soon. He said, "If they want to meet tonight, I will meet them. If they want to meet tomorrow morning, I will also meet them. I think we can solve this problem quickly. The question is, do they want to find a solution?"

Murphy said it was important to "agree on a final deal that is fair to workers, and also doesn't cost too much for people who travel and pay taxes in New Jersey."

The union said they talked about the contract for 15 hours without stopping before the announcement. People will probably start protesting at 4 a.m. on Friday.

NJ Transit is a big transport system in the US. It runs buses and trains in New Jersey, with about 1 million trips on weekdays, also to New York City. The strike stops all NJ Transit trains for people who travel to work. These trains are used a lot between New York City and towns in New Jersey, and also to Newark airport, which has had its own problems lately.

The company said they have plans to add more buses. They want to help people who use trains to get to work. But the buses will only have a few extra seats and will only go to some places near train stations. The buses will start on Monday. The company will also use other bus companies to help from some parking areas during the week when many people travel.

But the agency said the buses won't carry as many people as the trains do now. Only about 20% of the train users will fit on the buses. So, they asked people who can work from home to please do that if there is a strike.

Because of the possible problems, travel was already difficult. The transport company was not sure what would happen, so they stopped the trains and buses for Shakira's concerts on Thursday and Friday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

The groups met in Washington on Monday to talk about the problem with a mediator. A mediator was also there on Thursday when they talked again. Kolluri said on Thursday night that they might meet again on Sunday morning to continue talking.

The biggest problem in talks between the company and the train workers' union is pay. The union wants its members to earn about the same as workers at other train companies nearby. They say their members earn $113,000 a year on average. They think they can agree if the company boss, Kris Kolluri, agrees to pay them $170,000 a year on average.

However, NJ Transit says the union's numbers are wrong. They say their engineers earn about $135,000 a year, and some earn over $200,000.

Kolluri and Murphy said on Thursday that the main problem is not if they can agree on higher pay. The problem is if they can agree without causing other unions to ask for the same, which would be too expensive for NJ Transit.

Congress can stop the strike and make the union agree to a deal. But this time, they don't seem to want to do that, unlike in 2022 when they stopped a train strike.

The union at NJ Transit has lost members because many have left for better jobs at other train companies. The number of NJ Transit engineers has decreased from 500 to about 450 in the last few months.