Yukon parents frustrated by frequent school bus cancellations

Some Yukon families have been growing increasingly frustrated with frequent school bus cancellations, saying it's affecting their finances and also causing stress for the students.

Carmen Perren and her 13-year-old daughter leave their home, south of Whitehorse, at 6:25 a.m. on school mornings to drive 30 minutes to the nearest school bus stop. The earliest they can get an email notification about any bus cancellations is 6:45 a.m., when they're already on the road.

"It's always, do we bring her or not? Can we bring her or not? And she's every morning if she wakes up, 'can I go to school?' And we say, 'yeah, we will see,'" said Perren.

Perren and her husband work from home, running a tourism business. She says they can’t always take the two-hour journey from the Mount Lorne area into Whitehorse and back, to bring their daughter to school. If the afternoon school bus is also cancelled, it means another trip into Whitehorse and another two hours away from work.

Perren says this has a big impact on her daughter's life, as she has ADHD and needs in-person learning and structure to help her with her studies. 

Perren and other parents have written to the Yukon Government about their frustrations with the current school bus system. 

One of those other parents, Telek Rogan, says she started to track and compile the numbers from Standard Bus last month during the prolonged cold snap that led to many bus cancellations.

"There is no reason that is good enough to cancel transportation to schools, who stay open no matter how cold it get[s],” says Rogan, who lives in Whitehorse. 

Rogan says that between the beginning of the school year in August and Jan. 6, 2026, 463 bus trips were cancelled out of the 7,000 offered. She also says only 24 out of 83 school days had no cancellations at all.

“So that means less than 30 per cent of the year there's been no bus cancellations from Standard Bus Yukon,” she said. 

Rogan says a large proportion of the cancellations happened during December. That's when the territory saw some heavy snowfall, and also extreme cold temperatures. 

Melissa Arkwell, who also lives in Mount Lorne, says her daughter's school bus has been regularly cancelled two to three times a week, since before the first snowfall. She says that's affected her both mentally and financially. 

"We get these last-minute notifications that there's no bus, and we have so much anxiety, and there's getting everything organized, letting my boss know I'm going to be late, and having to drive her there, which also costs gas,” said Arkwell. 

Arkwell's daughter is in Grade 10 in Whitehorse, and her bus leaves at 7:15 a.m. When it's cancelled, Arkwell needs to drive her 40 minutes into the city then turn around and drive nearly an hour to Carcross for work. That means Arkwell is late for her 8 a.m. shift. 

When the after-school bus is cancelled, Arkwell says her daughter often stays at a friend's place until Arkwell can pick her up much later in the evening. 

'Kids need to be in school,' minister says

CBC News requested an interview with Standard Bus but has not yet received a response.

In a written statement issued last week, company president Leslie Cross said Standard Bus has "heard clearly that families have been frustrated with service interruptions they have experienced this past fall and winter," and was working with the Yukon government to make improvements.

According to a government news release, that includes "sending regular updates about school bus cancellations and delays, making mechanical changes so new buses can handle extreme cold and hiring more staff."

Yukon Education Minister Scott Kent says addressing the issue has been one of his top priorities since being appointed minister in November. 

Standard Bus is currently facing a driver shortage, said Kent, and the company has drivers from outside the territory filling in on bus routes. The government is also helping with recruitment, and the company offers hiring incentives for new drivers.

It's not clear how much the driver shortage has contributed to the number of bus cancellations.

Kent says that the many cancellations in December were related to new diesel vehicles in Standard Bus’s fleet that were not equipped with engine heaters. He says the company was caught by surprise by the extreme temperatures, after milder winters in recent years.

The buses are now equipped with auxiliary heaters, he said. 

Kent says his department is planning to introduce a bus tracking app in the spring to help improve communication with parents. The app will be able to track buses in real time, and notify parents directly when there are cancellations. 

“Kids need to be in school and many kids rely on school buses to get them there," said Kent.

"And if we can't get them there safely and with reliable service, then I believe we are being a barrier and we need to work on that.”