The city Department of Education has stopped running 18 of 35 “emergency” bus routes created to ease the chaos caused by dramatic changes to routes made last month, the agency said yesterday.

Seventeen of the emergency routes were permanently restored yesterday, bringing the total number of routes eliminated to 99.

The department put the 35 buses on call for emergencies for roughly $500 a day soon after the rerouting took effect Jan. 29, when it became apparent that the cost-cutting measure was going to be bumpier for families than education officials had expected.

It was decided last week, along with the restoration of the 17 routes, to relieve the on-call buses. Emergency routes could be put back in place if needed.

Despite the carnival of troubles – including snafus that stranded children at bus stops, placed siblings on different buses, and offered 5-year-olds MetroCards to get to class – the crisis appears to have eased considerably.

Even with the winter storm and the additional routes yesterday, the DOE’s pupil-transportation hot line received fewer calls than the 2,494 it got on Feb. 5 – the last Monday in which schools were open and there was not a federal holiday.

An agency spokeswoman said most of the 2,414 calls fielded yesterday were weather-related.

(Source NY Post)