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Even before the crippling school-bus strike began yesterday, Nadine Gardener’s typical day was pretty hectic.
Now, it’s nearly impossible.
Until drivers walked out, the Queens mother could rely on the school bus to get one of her two sons to school and back.
Yesterday, Gardener had to get them both from her St. Albans home to the kids’ Jackson Heights school on staggered schedules, twice making two-hour round trips involving buses, trains, transfers and four-block walks in the freezing rain.
The boys — 7-year-old first-grader Nileke and 4-year-old Malchi, a half-day pre-kindergartner — are dismissed from school several hours apart, so for their single, stay-at-home mom, she has to travel about four hours in one day.
“It’s a struggle for me,” said Gardener, 38. “ I don’t normally take them both on the bus and train. I think it’s wrong and unfair. This trip is very stressful for me.”
On a normal day, Gardener would have put Nileke on the school bus at 6:30 a.m., then accompany Malchi on an MTA bus and a train.
But after yellow-bus drivers refused to roll yesterday, Gardener had to haul both boys on public transportation at the height of morning rush hour.
Their day started with a 7 a.m. MTA bus ride to Jamaica, where they caught the E train and then transferred to the 7 train at Roosevelt Avenue for a ride to 90th Street. From there it was a four-block walk to the school.
“PS 222; praise the lord!” Gardener said when they finally arrived at the school at 8:15 a.m. — 15 minutes late for the start of classes. “It’s exhausting.”
Two hours later, after the pre-kindergarten session ended, she took Malchi back home — only to head back out to pick up Nileke in the late afternoon.
Gardener makes the trip every school day, but usually with just one child. Yesterday, she had to do it twice — with two fidgety kids.
She was particularly nervous about having both boys on the subway together, especially during transfers, where she carried Malchi up and down the stairs and tried to keep Nileke from running into other commuters.
“This is quite the exercise,” she said, panting.
Gardener said she’s not sure how long she can keep this up.
“I wasn’t going to take Nileke,” she said. “But I didn’t want him to miss a day of school. I think a lot of kids will miss school, because some parents can’t afford to take off work to take them.”
Nileke said he, too, wasn’t happy with the arrangement.
“I like taking the [school] bus,” he said. “I get to see my friends, and it’s easier.”