LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department unveiled a new inmate transport bus Thursday, addressing safety concerns and operational challenges in its aging Court Services Transportation fleet.
Sheriff Robert Luna emphasized the importance of the upgrade, noting its role in ensuring safe and efficient transportation for inmates to courts, jails, prisons and hospitals.
The Court Services Transportation Bureau has struggled over the past two years to transport inmates consistently due to maintenance issues and parts shortages, which have affected court proceedings, sheriff’s officials said.
Luna said 70% of the department’s current fleet is inoperable due to maintenance challenges.
“When you drove in, you saw a lot of our old bus fleet,” he said. “A lot of them are falling apart, and when I first walked into office, some of the first angry calls I got were from some of our judges who were not happy that some of our inmates were missing court.”
On Thursday, LASD and county officials unveiled the new 2024 Motor Coach Industries D4040 ISTV, designed to navigate compact spaces like correctional facilities and courthouses with a tighter turning radius. It also includes a wider entryway to streamline the loading and unloading of inmates.
“Currently, 39 of the 82 buses used by the department exceed the Federal Transportation Administration recommended asset life of 12 years or 500,000 miles,” sheriff’s officials said in a statement.
“This replacement plan will have our department’s bus fleet within the recommended replacement in three years and will allow our department to remain within the recommended replacement for the foreseeable future.”
Luna said the department’s Court Services Transportation Bureau transports about 1,500 people a day. Last year, the buses and vans traveled 2.2 million miles across the county and state.
“That doesn’t count a lot of times when we’re transporting inmates to doctor’s appointments or other things that some of the vans will use, but under emergencies, we can transport deputies if we need to,” said Luna.
On Sept. 12, 2023, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the purchase of 20 new buses and 16 new vans through the Automation Fund and AB-109 Funding.
LASD received the first of 20 new buses Thursday, with additional buses arriving every two weeks.
Each bus will take an additional two to three weeks to be equipped with radios and mobile digital computers before being delivered to the Court Services Transportation Bureau, sheriff’s officials said.
“It’s the first bus that we as a sheriff’s department, we as the county of Los Angeles has purchased. So I’m very grateful to our Board of Supervisors. They made a huge investment, about $21 million to purchase 20 new buses and 16 new vans,” said Luna.
City News Service, Inc. contributed to this report.
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