More than 1,600 OC Transpo bus drivers have been temporarily laid off until Saturday.

CTV Ottawa has leaned layoff notices were issued on Tuesday.

The layoffs come after the city and union struck a deal to prevent permanent layoffs at OC Transpo in light of a crippling public transit strike that lasted more than 50 days.

The deal, which involves job-sharing, comes after OC Transpo's top boss previously stated as many as 500 bus drivers would be let go once the strike was over.

Bus service resumes this weekend

Meanwhile, the city says the entire public transit system will be back up and running by April. Partial service in the city's core will begin as early as this Saturday.

Main routes and the Transitway are the priority. Express buses in the suburbs, however, will take longer to get back on the roads.

"People in the suburbs pay high property taxes. They pay a lot for their express passes every month and if they can't get back on the bus for another two or three months, there's going to be some serious frustration on the part of taxpayers in the suburbs," said transit user Steve Blais, whose express bus stop is less than a minute's walk from his east Ottawa home. Even with the strike over, his bus is not scheduled to be back in service until April.

The city says three express bus routes will begin running Feb. 23. Another nine of those buses are slotted to get back up and running on March 16. The remainder will return to the roads April 6.

  • When will your bus return? Click for a full schedule.

"We will be able to put out service in peak periods in suburban communities, so we will have buses to get people out on the Transitway," said OC Transpo manager Alain Mercier.

Park n' Rides expected to be packed

Although Park n' Rides across the city are empty now, there's concern there will be increased pressure for those looking for parking as the buses get back up and running.

"If the 90 series are the only ones running, there will be a lot of people converging onto the Park n' Rides," said Coun. Bob Monette, who represents Orleans, the area with the highest ridership in the city.

"The last thing I want to hear from my constituents is that they are getting tickets over this," he said.

Some will continue to drive

But even when the first round of buses gets back up and running, some residents living in the suburbs say they will avoid taking public transit until their express buses are back in service.

"I imagine the Park n' Ride is going to be jam-packed early in the morning, so most people I have talked to that are taking express buses are thinking of still driving in," said transit user Robert Perron.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Kate Eggins