Among the many marvels of the transit strike is the news that the average train or bus driver earns $63,000 per year. The typical station agent (i.e. the person in the cage) makes $51,000. The average New Yorker makes $45,000. I don’t really mind transit workers making a decent salary, it’s honorable and needed work (though I do think the strike is outrageous and Bloomberg should consider — and at minimum threaten — firing every last one of them). But something seems out of whack when the starting salary for a cop in New York is $35K. High salaries for cops make sense for a bunch of reasons. First and foremost the risks are high, but also the need for smart cops is great and the potential for corruption is huge. Bribing bus drivers? Not as big of a problem.