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At I.S. 34 in Tottenville, it was a longer line of cars than usual lining up for the first day of school – with many parents of seventh and eighth graders opting to drive their kids to school instead of putting them on public buses.

“[The Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus was] going to leave them off at Arthur Kill Road and Yetman,” said parent Phyllis Scotto. “And for them to walk in the morning, I just don't trust it.”

To save about $1.5 million, the Department of Education announced at the end of last school year it would stop offering yellow bus service to about 4,500 students citywide -- most of them from Staten Island.

And after a summer of court battles between parents and the DOE, many say they had hoped for a last-second reprieve.

But, with a Staten Island judge refusing to re-issue a restraining order on Tuesday, they hit the roads Wednesday finding bumper-to-bumper traffic at many of the island's middle schools.

“There are too many schools, too many people. Someone's going to get hurt,” said parent Jen McVey. “This is chaos.”

“It's very, very hectic,” agreed fellow parent Sherri Paterno. “The lines are so far down, we had to park like three blocks away to walk.”

While traffic was a mess on Amboy Road, the principal here at I.S. 34 kept Yetman Avenue relatively traffic-free by instituting a “Stop and Drop Zone” along the school.

“Oh yeah. I think they handled it well,” said Scotto. “We've always tried to Stop and Drop before in the public schools, but it never worked. I think [the principal] handled it well.”

The principal at I.S. 34 says Wednesday was a good one-day trial of the new drop-off zone, with schools closed Thursday and Friday. He says the real test will be next week when the streets are expected to be even busier.