Traffic and Safety Resources

School Bus Alert Pilot Project

In an effort to increase safety for school children, Alaska DOT&PF worked with the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District to bring school bus audio alerts to your smart phone. Drivers can now use Drive Mode in the 511 Alaska mobile app to receive audio alerts to let them know they are approaching a school bus.

How to get school bus alerts on your phone

This is a pilot program that is currently only available in the Fairbanks North Star Borough and alerts drivers about school buses operated by Durham School Services. Here’s how to get audio alerts on your phone:

1. Download the 511 Alaska mobile app to your smart phone.
2. Turn on Drive Mode by pressing the steering wheel icon on the bottom left corner of the map, or pressing the three white lines in the upper left corner and selecting Drive Mode.
3. With Drive Mode on, make sure the three options at the top (Auto Drive, Audio Alert, and Auto Dim) are all toggled on. You will also need to be sure your phone’s Location Services are turned on.

Then you can start driving to receive audio alerts! Leave the 511 Alaska mobile app open and Drive Mode on while you are driving. It is okay if your screen dims or goes to sleep. With Drive Mode activated, you will receive audio alerts about construction projects, maintenance work, road conditions, and when you are approaching school buses.

How it works

Using federal funding, we worked with the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District to connect the GPS devices already installed on school buses to our 511 traffic alert system. Your driving speed will determine the distance at which you will receive an audio alert—if you’re driving faster, you will get notified farther away. The audio alert says, “School bus. Caution. School bus ahead.”

Sample: School Bus Alert

You won’t receive audio alerts for school buses everywhere. We turned off alerts on busy roads with no bus stops, like the Johansen Expressway. We also turned off alerts in other select locations, like on Airport Way next to Lathrop High School. We want to ensure the alerts you receive are as relevant as possible.

We want to hear from you!

This is a pilot program, which means we’re still working out all the kinks. We want to hear how bus alerts are working for you and what you think could work better. Please contact us dot.511@alaska.gov with your feedback.

What’s next?

We are testing out this system in the Fairbanks North Star Borough this year. We will make tweaks as needed based on your feedback, input from the school district and bus drivers, and our experiences operating the system. After we are confident the system is working as planned, we will look into what it would take to roll it out to other school districts. Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions about this program.

Contact: Isvan Gomez
ITS Coordinator/511 Manager
dot.511@alaska.gov
907-451-2959