How to Pick Up Prisoners in Prison Bus [ANOMALY]

You don't have to search the map for a pickup stop in Prison Bus [ANOMALY] — the drive itself brings it to you. During a run the bus stops at locations marked PRISONER PICKUP on the way to Prison, and prisoners board right there while the bus is stopped. Your part is getting the bus out of the garage: fix it up, drive, and the stops come as part of the route.

Where pickup stops appear

The first pickup can come almost immediately. In a full observed run, the bus stopped at a sheriff office marked PRISONER PICKUP shortly after the player repaired the bus and drove out of the garage — the prisoner boarding there was Brenda Whitlock. There is no separate step for finding the stop: it is a marked location on the drive, and the bus stops there as part of the run.

Pickups keep coming later in the run too. The same walkthrough shows prisoners in orange jumpsuits boarding through the bus door at a later stop, with the HUD reading 460 Miles Left to Prison, after the player had already collected supplies at earlier stops. Treat prisoner pickups as a recurring stop type spread across the whole route rather than a single scripted event at the start.

The miles-left progress bar at the top of the screen is your reference point for all of this. It counts down toward Prison throughout the trip and stays on screen while prisoners board, so you can always tell how far into the run a pickup is happening.

What happens at a PRISONER PICKUP stop

The officer's explanation, the boarding and the printed CRIMINAL report all take place at the stop while your trip to Prison continues — the HUD keeps counting down the miles the whole time.

What the prisoners are for

Prisoner transport is the core of the run. The game's own description lays out the loop: fix up the prison bus, drive it to pick up prisoners, survive anomalies, and get to the prison alive. The prisoners you board are the cargo for that final leg — at the end of the run they are delivered to Blackwell Prison, where the Warden asks you to escort them to Cell Block 1.

The pickup step is the same across modes as described: Hardcore and Quick change the map length and the difficulty, not the stated prisoner pickup step.

From the first pickup onward, the run becomes about keeping that bus and its passengers alive to Blackwell. The Prison Bus route guide covers the drive itself, Prison Bus anomalies covers what waits on the road, and how to win walks through the finish at the prison. If you are still setting up your first run, start with the Prison Bus beginner guide, and see Prison Bus game modes for how Hardcore and Quick differ.