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"He's a good kid," she said. "But he is used to his routine."

That routine, like those of about 150,000 schoolchildren, many of them with special needs, will be severely disrupted starting Wednesday morning, when drivers who belong to New York City's largest union of school bus drivers go on strike — the first such strike in more than three decades.

At issue is Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's decision to solicit bids for 1,100 of the city's 7,700 bus routes. He will not require that the winning companies hire the most experienced unionized drivers — a protection that workers have enjoyed for decades and that the union is demanding be included in the bids.

The mayor said that a ruling by New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals, forbid the city from including the requirements, known as "employee protection provisions." The union argues that the mayor is misreading the decision.

All 8,800 drivers in the union will strike, said Michael Cordiello, the president of the union, Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union.

"We want to provide the safest possible transportation to the kids of the City of New York, and we want to save the jobs of the experienced drivers of New York," Mr. Cordiello said.

The city has put in place measures to help parents manage without buses.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has issued MetroCards for children who are normally taken by bus to school, and 30-day MetroCards for parents who have to accompany them. The transportation agency will bill the Education Department for the number of rides used.

Hiccups are expected. The MetroCards should work on the subways on Wednesday, but may not work on buses immediately because the readers on every bus must be reprogrammed to accept them. The "vast majority" of buses should accept them by Thursday, said Adam Lisberg, a spokesman for the authority. In some situations, the Education Department will reimburse parents for mileage on their cars or for the cost of livery cabs or taxis.

Confusion may be compounded because a small fraction of drivers, who are not members of the union, will not be on strike.

Sue Pugliese, who has two daughters with autism, said their driver will not be on strike, but because the bus matron, who is a member of Local 1181, will be on strike, the bus cannot pick up the children, who take it to Public School 37 on Staten Island. The Education Department has suggested that parents call 311 or look on its Web site for information on which buses will be running.

Ms. Pugliese's daughters take the bus even though they live close to the school. It offers consistency, she said. She will walk her girls to school on Wednesday, though she finds the prospect daunting, because one runs away frequently and the other is prone to tantrums, she said. "Parents are panicked," she said. "We have enough stress dealing with these children."

The strike will also alter parents' routines. Ms. Passante, whose son Derek struggled with going to school in the car, said her husband would work from home Wednesday to help out.

Michael Walker, a hair stylist in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, said he would probably lose 60 to 90 minutes of his workday, which would cost him $50 to $100, as he would have to leave early to pick up at least one of his three daughters.

But Mr. Walker said he supported the strike. "I want the people in charge of getting my kids to school to feel secure," he said. "They deserve job security."