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Staten Islanders hoped the judge would rule to restore a restraining order that would keep the city from ending bus service for nearly 3,000 of the borough's middle school students until the case goes to court. That ruling got pushed back until Wednesday.

One of the reasons it was pushed back was because Queens Councilman Eric Ulrich petitioned to join the lawsuit, saying some students in his district are also affected by the suspension of bus service. A judge is also expected to rule on that Wednesday.

City officials argue they cannot afford to continue paying for the bus service, because of the budget crisis, but lawyers for the affected families say that is not a sufficient reason.

"There will not be bus service tomorrow and that's an unfortunate part of this legislation," said lawyer Ron Castorina. "It is time consuming. However, we're looking forward to being successful, being victorious in this matter. And when this matter commences on the 13th, we're pretty confident that it's not going to last a long time."

"Certainly it's frustrating that the appellate division did what it did," said City Councilman Vincent Ignizio. "What they're willing to exchange is kids' safety for $1,500, which would have been the cost to have been three days of busing. I think it's kind of appropriate. I did then, I think it is now."

In court Tuesday morning, the city refused to give up e-mails between Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm, the Office of Pupil Transportation and other interested properties. Lawyers are interested in determining how this decision was made.

Staten Islanders say the buses are necessary for seventh and eighth graders, because of a lack of public transportation in the borough.

"I think that it's not a very good idea to take away the buses cause someone's gonna get hurt, some people might get lost on the bus, take the wrong bus and be in the middle of nowhere," said eighth grader John Scotto.

With no contingency plans in place by the Department of Education and the Department of Transportation, parents say they've got their own plans in the works for how they'll get their kids to school.

"My husband took the day off so it's gonna cost him a day and so he'll be able to go and come back. But starting Monday I have to think of a plan," said parent Teresa Perez.

"If you send them to school the first day and it works they're not gonna put the buses back. But we ban together and not send them to school...we'll get our buses back," said parent Terry Caranante.

The trial on the bus service is set to begin Monday.