Prison Bus

"Can't decide whether to be a bus driver or a prison guard? Well, now you can be both. All the futility of repeatedly driving the same route in one of the most cumbersome vehicles ever designed, with the authority to increase prison sentences with very little accountability."

- Warstock Cache & Carry webpage.

The Vapid Prison Bus is a bus featuring in The Lost and Damned, Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online. The vehicle is known as Police Prison Bus in GTA V.

The Lost and Damned
The Prison Bus in The Lost and Damned is very different to the normal Bus as it is shorter, faster, and heavily armored for prison inmate transportation and protection for the Alderney State Correctional Facility. The bus' design is comparable to that of a typical American school bus, but features barred windows intended to keep transported inmates inside.

The cowl (hood) design is based on the International Harvester S-Series, although lacking its distinctive power bulge. The headlights and grille bear a loose resemblance to the Chevrolet Kodiak. As for the bus body, the design is loosely based on the Blue Bird CV200 body.

The front area is reminiscent of that of a Yankee, even though both have different details.

Grand Theft Auto V
In Grand Theft Auto V, the Police Prison Bus shares its design from TLAD. However, the bus now is blue in color and bears the livery of Bolingbroke Penitentiary State Prison. It comes with a white pattern in the roof and looks cleaner, compared to the previous one.

The Lost and Damned
The Prison Bus performs much better than the Bus due to its shorter wheelbase and lighter construction. It has moderately good suspension and steering for a vehicle of its class, but given it is an armored vehicle, it suffers from poor acceleration, although it can achieve considerably good top speeds. Its still heavy weight also allows for the ability to push aside smaller vehicles with ease. Also, the Prison Bus is All-Wheel Drive, which makes it a good performer off-road and on rough, uneven terrain.

The Prison Bus is powered by a modeled twin-cam straight 4 with a turbocharger, however, the sound is more similar to a V8.

Grand Theft Auto V
In GTA V, the Prison Bus loses almost all of their properties seen in TLAD, behaving like a standard bus; slow, heavy and no longer features an AWD layout (replaced by a RWD layout), but it makes for the weight and the armor. However, it can tip over to the side at high speeds, making fast cornering considerably dangerous. Overall, the Prison Bus has a high top speed for a bus, in its class, but has poor braking, and average handling. The Prison Bus's high price of $550,000 in GTA Online could be considered 'not worth it', since it cannot seat as many as the normal Dashound and Bus.

The Prison Bus is powered by the same modeled twin-cam straight 4 with a turbocharger featured in TLAD, however, the sound is more similar to a straight 6.

The Lost and Damned
In single player, the Prison Bus appears in the mission "Off Route" where Johnny must hijack it full of inmates. During the mission, this bus is depicted to be impervious to damage. The bus also can be seen in the mission "Get Lost" when the player must break into the Alderney State Correctional Facility and then when he is breaking out.

There are two ways to obtain this vehicle; In Off Route, the player must park the bus at a safehouse parking lot (The GTA IV ones or the clubhouse), move a safe distance away, and then kill themselves.

The second way is to save a Prison Bus in Get Lost without failing the mission. However, it is a bit complex and the only condition is that the Prison Bus hasn't to be destroyed during the ambush. When the player have to exit the facility, this is the following process:


 * Leave the bike before exiting the gate.
 * Find a heavy vehicle, such as a SUV, while keeping the camera where the bus is parked.
 * Push the bus out of the gate.
 * Take the bike and leave the area only when all vehicles are out. (Entering again will cause a wanted level of 3 stars).
 * Keep pushing the bus to the Lost MC Clubhouse (is recommended to push with the rear of the vehicle, to avoid damage). Always switch between the bike and the vehicle, because the bus vanishes when you're too far or if the bike is too far away or is severely damaged, the mission fails.
 * Once arrived at the club, place the bus in the parking lot, put the vehicle out of there, take the bike and finish the mission.

Once the player finish the game and takes the control, drive to the clubhouse. If the method is worked; the Prison Bus should be parked, available to drive.

In multiplayer, players can race the prison buses when the vehicle class is selected as "Trucks". Players tends to use this vehicle mostly due to the decent speed, compared to other available trucks.

Grand Theft Auto V
The only spawn point of the vehicle is the central courtyard of the Bolingbroke Penitentiary. If a player enters the prison through the front gate and continues straight down the road leading directly through the buildings, they will eventually run up against an immobile, locked gate through which several prison buses can be seen. The only ways to obtain them are to circle around the prison until reaching a gap between two prison buildings leading to the courtyard. Obtaining it is highly dangerous, due to the four stars wanted level acquired when trespassing the prison. Alternatively, it is possible to use a Cargobob to lift the vehicle and take it to a safe area; if the player is quick enough, he will get only a two stars wanted level.

In Father/Son, when reaching the port city bridge one will come from the opposite side of the bridge. To obtain it, you must use the Sentinel as a barricade as it will not stop by putting the car in front of it, then get in, drive-by the Sentinel until you lose the mission and you will appear riding it.

In GTA Online, another Prison Bus is featured during a mission for Lester in which the player(s) must stop the bus and rescue a prisoner on board, but it cannot be kept after the mission is complete.

In the Heists Update, the player is now able to purchase the Prison Bus for $550,000 through the Warstock Cache & Carry website, but they have to complete The Prison Break in order to unlock the bus.

The Lost and Damned

 * In The Lost and Damned, Thomas Stubbs sends Johnny Klebitz to rescue many prisoners and take them to a few boats in order to set them free. However, the Prison Bus is thrown in the water.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * In GTA Online, up to four players are sent by Lester to rescue Gustavo Mota, who is held in a Prison Bus. The player(s) have to intercept the Bus and take Gustavo to Lester's Warehouse in Murrieta Heights.
 * In a heist in GTA Online, four players are required to use a Prison Bus twice, in one of the preparation missions, two players steal a Prison Bus and take it to a scrapyard in order to get inside the Bolingbroke Penitentiary, when all the other setups are completed, the final part of the mission requires a player to steal and destroy another Prison Bus which is going to the penitentiary, while the stolen Prison Bus is ready to get inside the pen, after getting in the pen, two players disguised as a cop and a prisoner respectively, start shooting at the prison guards and the NOOSE team in order to rescue Maxim Rashkovsky.

The Lost and Damned
The Prison is notably rare and it's one of the unique vehicles.
 * Only used during Off Route.
 * Spawns during Get Lost, but cannot be entered.

Grand Theft Auto V

 * Found parked in numerous spots in the Bolingbroke Pentitentiary.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Can be purchased on Warstock Cache & Carry for $550,000, after completing The Prison Break.

General

 * It's odd that the Prison Bus doesn't feature an interior barrier. Usually, prison transports uses an interior barrier to keep the prisoners away from the driver.

The Lost of Damned

 * Although the TLAD rendition is a law enforcement vehicle, passing properly in a Tollbooth will result in a payment for passing. Ignoring it doesn't give the player a wanted level.
 * In TLAD, the roof lights are not modeled correctly, looking like "tinted windows", showing the driver in a certain angle. However, in GTA V, these are correctly modeled and currently used at night.
 * The Prison Bus, along with the Annihilator, are the only police vehicles with a radio in single player.

Grand Theft Auto V

 * The Prison Bus features Gruppe 6 logo on the sides, just near the front part of the front fenders (see detail in design gallery).
 * During the Prison Break - Bus for the Heists Update, the Police Prison Bus is simply called "Prison Bus".

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