Mr. Street said his goal was to land a job with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as a bus mechanic.

The borough president, Helen Marshall, said last night that she expected bus mechanics to begin preparing the buses today to return to their routes.

In New York, the first-generation Chinantecan immigrants are waiters and garment workers and bus mechanics.

"My friend Wallie has a vacation coming," he said of Walter Chudkosky, a bus mechanic.

The couple, in their 50's, work at Cornell University in Ithaca, he as a bus mechanic, she as a purchasing aide.

The borough president, Helen Marshall, said on Friday that she expected bus mechanics to be back at work by Saturday.

The district employs 4 highly capable and educated bus mechanics one of which is Head mechanic.

The saga of Mr. Lu, an ordinary bus mechanic transformed into a prisoner of conscience, is a powerful human-rights story.

For example, union rules that limit certain bus mechanics to engine work will be loosened so that they can also do chassis or brake repairs.

All the parents worked at the DiNoble cigar factory, said Sam Cicerale, 71, a retired bus mechanic who lives in Astoria.