With the threat of a transit strike looming, companies in New York City are creating contingency plans to ensure that work – and play – goes on even if the city’s subway and bus service grinds to a halt.

Some companies are preparing to pick up workers at major transportation hubs and drive them to their offices if the subway and bus workers go on strike for the first time since 1980. Others are encouraging employees to sleep over at the homes of co-workers who live close to the office, booking hotel rooms, or setting up Web sites to keep workers posted. Some firms are even rescheduling holiday parties so a strike wouldn’t throw off annual celebrations.

One such firm, Stribling and Associates, has rescheduled its annual staff luncheon to ensure that nobody misses out on the gala event at which brokers compose a holiday song for staff members, many of whom live outside of Manhattan. The firm’s president, Elizabeth Stribling, said a strike might be inconvenient but added, “I’ve been through transit strikes, garbage strikes, and elevator strikes. You cope. A real estate broker will do anything to make a deal. She’ll get there. He’ll get there.”

Although some companies are reworking their schedules, most are focusing on the nuts and bolts of transporting employees to and from their offices.

Citigroup informed its workers yesterday that it had launched a Transit Strike Web site that includes links to the latest emergency transportation information. The financial services company also will offer limited bus and minivan service to employees.

A spokesman for Bank of America, Jeff Hershberger, said many of its offices are within walking distance of major transportation hubs, but he said, We are working with financial services industry associations to provide alternate transportation when possible for associates who have requested shuttle assistance if MTA subway and bus workers decide to strike.” He added that, if need be, some of the bank’s businesses can transfer to locations outside the city.

The president of the Partnership for New York City, Kathryn Wylde, said dozens of banks and securities firms are banding together to establish a shuttle bus system to carry workers around the city.

She said the business community has been monitoring the transit talks and is “very concerned” about the possibility of a strike. “We know how much money we lose when we have a blackout or the transportation system fails. It’s the single most important service we rely on to keep our economy going,” she said.

Other firms are setting up more individualized contingency plans.

A spokesman for Verizon, Mark Marchand, said the company has started warning employees to pay attention and figure out alternative routes to work.

Con Edison, too, is pledging to keep running even if the subways and buses don’t. A spokeswoman for WNBC, Alison Rudnick, said the television channel is considering booking hotel rooms or hiring buses to pick up employees from boroughs outside of Manhattan.

Columbia University and New York University are also planning for the worst-case scenario, vowing to remain open even if the subways and buses stop running. While the city hasn’t officially warned companies about how to handle a potential strike, a spokesman for the city’s Office of Emergency Management, Jarrod Bernstein, said the city would likely restrict traffic in the city, allowing only high-occupancy vehicles to drive in Manhattan during certain hours.

“We want people to stagger work schedules, have people telecommute if possible,” he said. “Obviously use alternate means of transportation that are functioning like carpooling or any mass transit that’s working.”