School bus safety and emergency procedures

Keeping students and bus drivers safe is a shared responsibility. We work with Standard Bus, school communities and the RCMP to manage risks along Yukon bus routes.

Emergency procedures

• In an emergency, our first priority is to ensure the safety of students.
• If an emergency happens, government staff and Standard Bus will coordinate an immediate response.
• We keep phone numbers for who parents would like us to call in case of an emergency. In the case of an emergency, we'll use these to share timely information with parents.

Cold weather safety

• Ensure your children are dressed warmly to travel to school in the winter.
• Buses may be late or be cancelled if road conditions are unsafe for a school bus.
• If delays are expected, do not leave your child alone at the bus stop. Wait with them until the bus arrives.
• When buses are late or cancelled in Whitehorse parents or guardians may be informed in 3 ways:
  1. Text message. 
  2. E-mail and web updates using My School Bus Monitor. 
  3. Local radio if there are widespread cancellations.
• Outside Whitehorse, Standard Bus contacts the schools, and the schools inform parents.

School busing notifications if late or cancelled 

Parents or guardians may be informed of delays or cancellations in 3 ways:

1. Text message. 
2. E-mail and web updates using My School Bus Monitor. 
3. Local radio if there are widespread cancellations.

Please note: If you do not receive a notification in the morning, your school bus is running as usual. 

To receive text messages 

Contact the Student Transportation Officer to confirm your phone number to receive notices when your child's school bus is late or cancelled by emailing student.transportation@yukon.ca.

To receive My School Bus Monitor updates 

To receive e-mail updates through My School Bus Monitor:

1. Go to myschoolbusmonitor.ca.
2. Click “here” where it says “To receive email alerts, click here”.
3. Parent Messaging Service - Register your email:
   1. Enter the email address you want the notifications to go to.
   2. Confirm the email address you want the notifications to go to.
   3. Carrier – Enter “Standard Bus Yukon”.
   4. Read the message and confirm you read it by clicking the box.
   5. Hit “Next”.
4. Parent Messaging Service - Update School Routes:
   1. Select the school you want to receive updates for.
   2. Ensure it references – Yukon Government, as some schools have similar names in other jurisdictions.
   3. Select the route(s) that your child is assigned to.
   4. Add route to your selected routes by clicking “Add Route“.
   5. Be sure to add both the AM and the PM routes.
5. You'll receive a confirmation email and you'll now receive notifications about your child’s bus routes from Standard Bus. Check your junk mail or spam folder for your confirmation email.
6. Add notification@myschoolbusmonitor.ca to your contacts to make sure the alert emails always go into your inbox and not your junk folder.

To view updates online visit myschoolbusmonitor.ca and search ‘Whitehorse’ or ‘Yukon’ to see if there are any school bus delays for that day.

Remember you must register at the start of every school year even if your bus number is the same.

Local radio updates

The Department of Education informs local radio stations, if there’s widespread impacts or cancellation of school buses. We inform: 

• CBC 
• CHON FM 
• CKRW

We do not issue notifications through local radio for delays or cancellations of individual routes. Parents and guardians should check for text messages or My School Bus Monitor updates from Standard Bus. 

How to report safety concerns

• Report unsafe driving around a school bus to the RCMP.
• If you have concerns, we'll work together to address the issue and answer your questions.
• Contact our Student Transportation Unit by email student.transportation@yukon.ca or by phone 867-667-5172, toll free in Yukon 1-800-661-0408, extension 5172.
• Contact Standard Bus Yukon at 867-456-3210.
• You can also contact your child's school.
• We'll review any incidents to consider whether we need to make any changes to protect health and safety.

National safety standards

• We work with Standard Bus to ensure school buses meet all national safety standards.
• We have agreed to take part in Transport Canada’s assessment of seat belt safety on school buses.