Office of Population Management Takes Over Control of DOC Buses

Beginning July 2019, responsibility for the operation and maintenance of DOC buses moved from the Bureau of Administration to the DOC's Office of Population Management. Previously the 14 DOC buses were housed at and maintained by different state prisons across the commonwealth. These 14 buses move approximately 35,000 inmates from facility to facility around the state. Under this new change, the buses will remain at these prisons, but now OPM will be responsible for tracking their use, maintenance and repair.

The central coordination of the buses is expected to release prison staff from these duties, allowing them to dedicate their time to perform more prison-specific duties. The centralized maintenance will also better preserve the buses, as records show that preventative care extends the life of a vehicle. Another component of this change will be that OPM will have back-up buses housed at the DOC's Transportation Hub (which is located at SCI Benner Township), and those buses can be used to replace buses that are scheduled for maintenance, thus keeping the inmate transportation system running smoothly.

The oldest bus that the DOC has is from 1997, with the newest being from 2018.