HONOLULU -- One of the alternatives for stranded bus riders is a city van service. Those who took the vans to work Tuesday morning appreciated the free rides.

About 1,300 Oahu bus workers went on strike minutes after a 12:00 a.m. deadline Tuesday after negotiations broke down.

A little after 8 a.m., a city van pulled into the Chinatown Gateway Plaza. It left Waianae more than two hours earlier.

"I'm late today because of the bus strike, so it's kind of hard," Rebecca Weir said.

Mayor Jeremy Harris and city appointees were among the drivers during the morning run:

INTERACTIVE Strike Center Join Discussion SURVEY INFORMATION City Site UH Site Strike Hot Line 527-5890 City Vans Program 523-4381

"It's been going very well. I picked up my first load at 5:45 in Kalihi and I've been running people back and forth between here and there and from here to Waikiki," Harris said.

The city is running some 50 vans for people who made reservations.

"We had about a thousand signed up. That was our capacity so we had to stop the reservations as of last night," Deputy Managing Director Malcolm Tom said.

During midday, they're used as a shuttle service in the downtown area, which doesn't help Larry Stewart, who works the graveyard shift and was looking for a way to get to Salt Lake.

"I don't know. I'm not going to walk home and plus, I've got to work tonight again at midnight," Stewart said.

Even with 1,000 reserved riders for the city vans, that number is very small compared to the thousands carried by the buses that are stuck in parking lots.

The city van program also is a learning process for passengers. City van users have planned ways to get home.

"I asked my colleague to drive me here, and then I'll take the same van ride," Weir said.

The van program stopped taking reservations after it reached the maximum 1,000 passengers.