That could've been us.🖐️😢

BYD buses have been operational in the US for almost 2 decades now. But most of the early models suffered from reliability issues, and the LA Metro ended up spending a lot more money than expected while getting less useful life out of the BYD buses.

I don't know if they've fixed the issues, but they have a bad reputation in the mass transit procurement world. It's also not clear the extent to which the problem is in the design versus the actual operations out of its California factory.

Yes. The 2018 report was a significant setback for the company, because the effects are still being felt today. That's my point.

LA Metro grounded their newest BYD K9Ms (used on their J line) from January 2026 to March 2026, to investigate an electric motor issue. Note that Toronto's bus system retired their K9Ms as well, in 2025, after reliability issues.

I'm not just making this stuff up. It's an area of active debate and of active concern. LA Metro has an open solicitation for 240 electric buses (one contract for 220 buses and one for 20). We'll see if they go with BYD or New Flyer or someone else when those contracts get awarded this summer.

To the original comment's point, though, I'm pretty sure the US surpassed 500 BYD buses before Japan did (I found a press release from 2019 announcing the 460th ordered), and it's obviously been almost 7 years since then. I'm just not sure that they're all still in service, given the struggles some of these transit agencies have had with incorporating them into their operations.