School buses will be back on the roads when students return to school from winter break on Wednesday, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said on Monday.

After a month-long strike that began on Jan. 16, drivers and matrons of Local 1181 of Amalgamated Transit Union return to work on Wednesday. Parents of more than 150,000 students who were affected by the strike no longer have to worry about how to get their children to school.

Walcott said parents and students should expect some normal delays on Wednesday, similar to the first day of school, DNAinfo.com reported.

The city spent more than $20 million as a result of the strike–reimbursing parents for transportation costs and providing free MetroCards–but it still saved nearly $60 million.

The city has received 65 bids to run the 1,100 bus routes for special needs students.

The DOE estimates the new contracts may save the city more than $100 million over the next five years, DNAinfo.com reports.

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The school bus strike that affected more than 150,000 city children for a month has ended.

Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, the main union for New York City school bus drivers, ended the strike Friday evening. Bus drivers will return to work on Wednesday when students return to school from winter break.

The ending of the strike signals a win for the Bloomberg administration, which had refused to agree to the union’s demands for job protections.

Union Leader Michael Cordiello said the union was encouraged to end the strike when a group of 2013 mayoral contenders expressed in a letter that they would revisit the issue of job protections if they are elected.

The strike began after the mayor’s decision to take away employee protection provisions from contracts with bus companies. The provisions had protected drivers from losing their jobs by requiring companies to hire drivers in order of seniority. The city had argued that such requirements are actually illegal and that bus drivers should negotiate directly with the companies that hire them.

The strike, which began on Jan. 16, took a toll on both drivers and students. Drivers were out of work for nearly five weeks earning only a small stipend from the union.

Students received free MetroCards and reimbursements for alternative transportation costs, but attendance was still down and many parents had to take time off work. The strike was especially hard on special education students who rely heavily on the buses to get to school.

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A school bus crashed into a car in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning, leaving 14 people injured, including 11 children.

According to the FDNY, all injuries were minor, except for those of the driver of the car. The driver was listed as seriously injured but stable. The injured were all transported to area hospitals.

The accident occurred at 8:10 a.m. at the intersection of Myrtle and Wilson Avenues, the NYPD reported.

With most of the city’s school bus drivers still on strike due to a dispute with the Department of Education (DOE) over a request for bids for bus company contracts, local organization Parents to Improve School Transportation (PIST) checked with the Amalgamated Transportation Union Local 1181 and received confirmation that the bus in question was a non-union bus.

The new bids were due in to the city on Tuesday, the same day as the school bus crash.

Sara Catalinotto said this accident shows the danger posed to children being driven by non-union bus drivers.

“I would not put my child on a bus with crew that is not vetted or screened or certified like the people who are now mostly on strike,” Catalinotto said.

Catalinotto has heard reports, she said, that the DOE told companies who aren’t on strike to use a second bus driver in place of a matron on buses that usually have an attendant. This would primarily affect special needs students; matrons are attendants trained to work with disabled children.

“It is a life and death matter,” Catalinotto said, “as well as a matter of education, and especially the rights of kids with disabilities.”

PIST is calling for an independent investigation by the Bushwick community into the cause of the accident.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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