Hundreds of students from English public and Catholic schools in Ottawa will not be able to ride the bus on the first day of school next week due to a shortage of drivers.

The Ottawa Student Transportation Authority said that 33 bus trips on 20 routes to schools across the city of Ottawa were canceled before classes begin on September 6 because it is dealing with a shortage of drivers.

Last week, OSTA said 27 additional drivers were needed to cover all school bus routes for the Ottawa Carleton District School Board and the Ottawa Catholic School Board.

On Monday, the transportation authority revealed a list of canceled school bus routes for the first day of school.

OSTA said, "Due to driver shortages, multiple changes and cancellations have occurred in transportation services for OCDSB and OCSB students."

"OSTA continues to work with its operators and OC Transpo to find innovative solutions to provide service to as many students as possible."

Some students from grades 7 to 12 will be transferred to public transit, and some yellow bus services have been changed and/or canceled.

OSTA said, "For canceled routes, parents will need to find alternative transportation to get their children to school during the next few weeks until service stabilizes."

Ten school bus routes to 10 schools under the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board were canceled either in the morning, afternoon, or both.

The Ottawa Student Transportation Authority hopes some routes will return to service during the second week of the school year.