Los Angeles Bus Accident Lawyer

Our office is in the Sky Lobby at 660 S. Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles, CA 90017. We see clients there by appointment, and a free case review can start by phone or online at any hour. Hablamos Español. Our Los Angeles office page has a map and directions.

Three bus results from our California cases, starting with Los Angeles:

• $2.3 million (2025, Los Angeles): a public transit bus pulled away as a passenger was stepping on. The passenger fell onto the concrete and was left with back, hip, and leg pain.
• $5.3 million (2026, Fresno): on a curve, a passenger tilted into a window when a safety lock the driver hadn't checked failed, causing a serious neck injury.
• $2.3 million (2024, Los Banos): a bus's raised ramp came down on a bystander's head, causing a traumatic brain injury.

You can see more results on our settlements and verdicts page. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different.

Police. Metro said in February 2026 that it contracts with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for law enforcement across its system. Its first Chief of Police and Emergency Management joined in June 2025. On City of Los Angeles streets, LAPD's traffic divisions handle collision reports. If an officer comes to the scene, ask for the report number and which agency is writing it.

Video. If a bus camera or a nearby business recorded the crash, that footage may not be kept for long. The question "How do I get video from a Metro bus camera after an accident?" on this page explains how a request for Metro's video works.

Court. When the injury happened in Los Angeles County, the case can be brought in its Superior Court (Code Civ. Proc. §395(a)). For an unlimited civil case, the court's local rules then send it to the judicial district where the crash occurred. Central District injury cases have been assigned to Stanley Mosk Courthouse judges, at 111 N. Hill St., since January 8, 2024.

Public bus systems in the Los Angeles area belong to different agencies, and a claim sent to the wrong one generally doesn't protect your rights against the right one. These are the three systems this page covers:

• LA Metro. Metro runs 117 bus routes with 2,111 buses across a 1,440-square-mile service area, counting routes run by contractors (Metro, September 2026). Claims for injuries go to Metro Legal Services, by mail to the address printed on Metro's claim form (Metro Office of Board Administration, Legal Services, One Gateway Plaza, 99-PL-4, Los Angeles, CA 90012-2952), or in person. Metro has claim forms in English and Spanish, and it rejects claims sent by email.
• DASH and Commuter Express (LADOT). The City's transportation department contracts all of its transit service to private operators. A claim against the City goes only to the Office of the City Clerk: through its online portal, by mail, or in person at 200 N. Spring St., Room 395. The Clerk doesn't accept emailed or faxed claims, and the City Attorney's Office can't receive one either.
• Big Blue Bus. Use the "Claim Against the City of Santa Monica" form and mail or deliver it to the City Clerk, 1685 Main St., Room 102, Santa Monica. The City won't take it by fax. The form has a section just for Big Blue Bus claims that asks for the bus number, the line, the operator's badge number, and where you boarded. It also asks whether you were a passenger, a pedestrian, or the driver or owner of another vehicle. The form tells you to be sure the claim is against the City of Santa Monica and not another public or private entity.

Other systems in the county work differently. Long Beach Transit, for example, describes itself as separate and distinct from the City of Long Beach. We confirm the operator, the agency, and any contractor before a claim goes out. Our statewide public transportation accident guide covers agencies elsewhere in California, such as OCTA, BART, and Muni.

LA Metro reported 189 bus collisions for 2025 to the National Transit Database, the Federal Transit Administration's record of major safety events. Those collisions injured 192 people and killed 7.

• Buses Metro operates itself: 182 collisions, 184 people injured, and 5 killed.
• Bus rapid transit Metro operates itself: 4 collisions and 8 people injured.
• Buses run by contractors: 3 collisions and 2 people killed.

The database holds only events that reach the FTA's reporting thresholds, so it does not count every collision or every fall inside a bus. Its figures generally lag by at least 90 days.

A bus that carries passengers for a fare is held to a high standard: a carrier of persons for reward must use the utmost care and diligence for their safe carriage (Civ. Code §2100). That duty matters in crashes and in the sudden stops, fast starts, and boarding falls covered on our bus passenger injury page.

More than one party may answer for the same crash:

• the public agency that runs the route, such as Metro, the City of Los Angeles, or the City of Santa Monica;
• a private company that operates the buses under contract with that agency;
• another driver who hit the bus, or whom the bus hit; and
• the public entity whose stop, curb, or street was in a dangerous condition that its employee created, or that it knew or should have known about in time to fix (Gov. Code §835).

Many charter and tour buses are run by private companies. California's Public Utilities Commission licenses charter-party carriers, sets minimum insurance by seating capacity, and offers a public search showing whether a carrier is licensed. If a bus hit you while you were walking or driving, our Los Angeles pedestrian accident and Los Angeles car accident pages explain those claims.

It depends on how many seats the vehicle has. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) licenses charter-party carriers, which include charter and round-trip sightseeing companies. According to the CPUC, the minimum liability insurance is:

• 7 passengers or fewer: $750,000.
• 8 through 15 passengers: $1.5 million.
• 16 passengers or more: $5 million.

There is one exception. A carrier with a Class C charter-party certificate has a $750,000 minimum, whatever the vehicle seats. The CPUC's licensing branch links to a public search for licensed passenger carriers. Federal rules for companies that cross state lines are on our California bus accident page.

Public transit claims run on a shorter clock than most injury cases. These deadlines can apply in Los Angeles:

• Claim to Metro, the City of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, or another public entity: within six months of the injury (Gov. Code §911.2).
• The agency's answer: the agency generally has 45 days after the claim is presented to act on it, and if it doesn't, the claim counts as rejected on the last day of that period (Gov. Code §912.4).
• Lawsuit after a written rejection: six months from when the notice is mailed or handed to you. If no written notice goes out, the deadline is two years from the day the claim arose, which is generally the day of the injury (Gov. Code §945.6).
• Private charter, tour, or shuttle company: generally, no government claim is needed against the company itself, and the deadline to sue it is two years from the injury. Those two years do not extend the six months for a claim against a public entity (Code Civ. Proc. §335.1).

Our step-by-step guide to filing a government claim after a bus accident covers what the claim must say and what to do if the six months have passed.