PHILADELPHIA -- Subway trains, trolleys and buses rolled out of city depots for the first time in a week today, marking the end of a mass-transit strike that clogged highways and city streets and caused headaches for more than 400,000 daily riders.

After an all-night bargaining session, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority reached a tentative agreement early this morning on a new contract with 5,300 workers. The negotiations largely centered on how much veteran employees contributed to health care.

The city's subways, trolleys, elevated trains and a few bus lines were up and running by 7 a.m. Full service was expected by the afternoon rush hour, spokesman Felipe Suarez said.

"Things are getting back to normal around here," he said.

Gov. Ed Rendell, who met with union and transit authority officials Sunday in an effort to push the stalled negotiations forward, said the agreement was a good deal for both parties and "most importantly, for the SEPTA riders and all Philadelphians, who have struggled to get around the city while this agreement was being hammered out."

Commuters in downtown Philadelphia today heaped praise on Gov. Rendell, the city's popular former mayor, crediting him with brokering the deal.

"When I heard he was getting involved in the talks, I knew it wouldn't be long before the whole mess got settled," said Sue Young, who was waiting for an eastbound bus downtown to get her to an afternoon doctor's appointment.

Added her friend Gina Romano, "SEPTA and the union would have been spinning their wheels for who knows how long if it wasn't for Rendell."

The strike, the first since a 40-day walkout in 1998, involved about 5,000 Transport Workers Union Local 234 members and 300 suburban transit employees represented by the United Transportation Union Local 1594. The four-year pact must still be ratified by both sides, and a vote was expected to come within a week, said Bob Bedard, spokesman for the Transport Workers Union.

The walkout inconvenienced more than 400,000 daily subway, bus and trolley riders, including 27,000 public school students who receive free or subsidized transit tokens, forcing some to walk, bike or car pool to work. SEPTA's railroad lines remained in operation during the strike, because those employees have a different union contract.

Sharla McDonald, waiting for a northbound bus on Broad Street on Monday morning, said she was relieved that the strike was over. She walked about 25 blocks each day, round trip, to get to and from her work downtown.

"It wasn't bad walking last week because the weather was still good," she said. "I don't know what I would have done if it (the strike) went on into the winter. I hope we don't have to worry about another one for a long time."

After years of double-digit inflation in health care costs, SEPTA said it could no longer afford to pick up the entire tab for veteran workers. In the end, the union agreed to contribute 1 percent of the cost of base salary toward health care.

Among the nation's top eight transit systems, SEPTA and New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority were the only ones that provided family health insurance fully paid by the employer. The others require the employees to pay a portion of health insurance premiums.

Also today, union officials in Pittsburgh approved a Nov. 20 strike vote for 2,000 Port Authority of Allegheny County bus and light-rail drivers and other workers who have been without a contract since July 1. One of the main sticking points is how much employees contribute to health care.