Obama Travels in New, Million-Dollar Bus

Topics:  President Barack Obama

VOA Breaking News
August 16, 2011 at 3:45 pm

U.S. President Barack Obama is touring the Midwest in a new vehicle — a long, sleek, armored bus worth a million dollars.

The vehicle is one of two such buses purchased by the Secret Service earlier this year and altered to accommodate presidential travel.

A Secret Service spokesman, Ed Donovan, says the buses will also be used by other officials and the Republican nominee for the presidency, once the party selects a candidate next year.

He said for past bus trips the Secret Service has leased a vehicle and retrofitted it for the president, then restored it to original condition before returning it.

The new armored buses have bulletproof windows and tires, and the windows are tinted so darkly that they blend in with the vehicles' glossy black paint.

The Secret Service says the total cost for both buses was $2.2 million. They are expected to last about 10 years.