"The vehicle, valued at $689,000, was not paid for by the town or tax dollars. It was acquired through the Federal 1033 program run by the US Department of Defense's Law Enforcement Support Office.
The program transfers weapons, equipment and vehicles from the military to civilian law enforcement agencies."
oh...ok
...why?
A while back, I did a search for the manuals for vehicles like this and figured out they, by default, they are all keyed alike. So, unless your local law enforcement agency is filled with intelligent, forward thinking individuals bright enough to get them rekeyed (and can convince the accountants/comptrollers to pay for the rekeying), you can figure out what the key is through the manuals (because pigs are idiots and host them unsecured) and order them on Amazon or whatever.
Would be funny if they were all at the bottom of lakes and canals
Also, all of your local cop cars are probably keyed alike, too. And busses don’t have keys at all.
You could probably get some good cash taking it to your local mafia run chop shop.
My chop shop is collectively run
Yep, Buses use start buttons to engage the engines, for the longest time, they utilized air starters for their reliability. Though electric starters have become more dependable and robust in the last few decades.
The only hard part now is patience, give it 45 or so seconds for the system to build air so you can actually use the brakes properly. Then disengage the parking brake (pressing the yellow diamond down)
Edit: some buses do not have a parking gear. To "park" some buses you put it in neutral then pull the parking brake tab up.
Boomers: "Kids these days can't drive manual!"
GenX/Y/Z/A: Pops parking brake and shifts into gear
Boomers: Ah well, nevertheless!