Parents scramble to get kids to class as NYC school bus drivers go on strike

Story by NBC NewYork
Written by Marc Santia and Pei-Sze Cheng,

Thousands of parents scrambled for alternate ways to get their children to class Wednesday as the school bus drivers union began a strike in a dispute about new contracts.

Earlier, city officials blasted the planned strike by Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union for leaving tens of thousands of children in the lurch as union members said they would do what they had to do to protect their jobs.

It is New York's first school bus strike in more than three decades.

Some 152,000 children -- or about 14 percent of the student population -- take buses. About 54,000 of them are disabled.

The city began taking measures this week to alleviate additional hardships imposed by the strike, including by passing out free MetroCards for children to take mass transit to get to school.

That's not much of a solution for many families.



Grandmother Janet Balmes said it's ridiculous to expect her 5-year-old grandson would take a city bus to school.

"I don't let him walk to the corner by himself. I'm gonna put him on a city bus to go to school? I'm gonna let him get off, cross the street and go to school? Not in this lifetime," Balmes said.

In Queens, mom Miriam Aristy-Farer volunteered to walk children from the A train to their school -- her contribution to ease the collective pain that parents will experience Wednesday.

"It's putting the pressure on people who don't make a lot of money to being with, and asking parents to choose between safety and money," she said.

Read more from NBCNewYork.com

The union and the city have been battling over how new contracts are being drawn up for a set of bus routes.

The city wants to cut transportation costs and has put about 1,100 bus contracts with private bus companies up for bid.

The union is decrying the lack of Employee Protection Provisions, saying without the so-called EPPs, current drivers could suddenly lose their jobs once their contracts are up in June.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a press conference Monday that the union wants job protections the city cannot legally provide. Union President Michael Cordiello said that claim was inaccurate.