Train engineers in New Jersey’s commuter rail system went on strike early Friday, leaving its 350,000 daily riders either working from home or seeking other means to transit the state or cross the Hudson River into New York City.

People who normally rely on New Jersey Transit took to buses, cars, taxis and boats for the morning rush hour after trains ground to a halt at a minute past midnight.

Some left extra early to avoid problems. A few, unaware that the strike was underway, showed up and waited for trains that weren’t going to arrive.

Early indications were that the strike hadn’t resulted in major traffic jams or epic lines to get onto buses. Friday’s rail commute into New York from New Jersey is typically the lightest of the week.

But there was some confusion and extra costs as passengers tried to figure out alternate routes in a system that, besides helping New Jerseyans get to work or into Manhattan to see a Knicks game or a Broadway show, also helps New Yorkers get to Newark Airport or the Meadowlands.

David Milosevich, a fashion and advertising casting director, was on his way to a photo shoot in Brooklyn. At 1 a.m. he checked his phone and saw the strike was on.

“I left home very early because of it,” he said, grabbing the bus in Montclair, New Jersey, and arriving in Manhattan at 7 a.m. “I think a lot of people don’t come in on Fridays since COVID. I don’t know what’s going to happen Monday.”

The walkout comes after the latest round of negotiations Thursday didn’t produce an agreement. It is the state’s first transit strike in more than 40 years and comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management.

“We presented them the last proposal; they rejected it and walked away with two hours left on the clock,” said Tom Haas, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

NJ Transit CEO Kris Kolluri appeared Friday alongside Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy at a news conference. They said they got close to what the union sought on wages but raised concerns about the longer-term fiscal health of the transit agency.

“What’s the point of giving you a pay raise if a couple of years from now your job is not going to exist?” Kolluri said. “That’s sort of what we’re talking about in the most plain and simple terms.”

BLET National President Mark Wallace walked the picket line outside New York City’s Penn Station, and he said the engineers are committed to staying on strike until they get a fair deal: NJ Transit needs to pay them a wage that’s comparable to Amtrak and Long Island Railroad because engineers are leaving for jobs on those other railroads for better pay.

The next talks are scheduled for Sunday with the help of federal mediators. The parties met Monday with a federal mediation board in Washington, and a mediator was present during Thursday’s talks.

The union has seen steady attrition in its ranks. The number of NJ Transit engineers has shrunk from 500 several months ago to about 400.