A transit strike would be a minor inconvenience for some, but for many others it would mean a complete rearrangement of their daily lives.

Coady Craig, 17, is one of about 96,000 daily Metro Transit riders waiting to see if HRM and the union representing city transit workers can arrive at a deal before the strike deadline of Thursday at 12:01 a.m.

“Metro Transit keeps me going to school, pretty much,” he said. “I would have to change my schedule all around. It would really screw me around.”

Craig usually hops on the bus at about 5:30 a.m. near his home in Westphal and makes a stop at the Dartmouth Sportsplex for a workout before heading to school. If there’s a transit strike, he faces an untenable three-hour walk.

Donna Dowd has no idea what she will do without the bus, since she doesn’t have a car.

“I walk a fair amount, but we need the bus, too,” Dowd said Monday while waiting for a bus at the Dartmouth bridge terminal. “Hopefully … they won’t go on strike.”

Dowd said she doesn’t have the money to pay for a cab every day.

As for the taxi companies, there’s little they can do to prepare for a transit strike. The municipality restricts the number of cabs on the road.

“Most drivers will work more hours if they can make more money, but there’s a limitation to what anyone can work, safely,” said Lorne Baccardax of Yellow Cab.

Baccardax remembers the chaos during the last HRM transit strike 14 years ago.

“A lot of people who never used taxis called and they expected they’re going to have on-the-moment service, and I don’t think the industry is able to respond that way,” he said.

Also, sections of the city were left uncovered simply because taxis were so busy taking people to work downtown during the last strike.