Q. What is it supposed to be on the show? A. A bus, on a public street. Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show? A. 8614 N. Sabal Palm Road, in Miami. Q. When did we see it on the show? A. In Episode 10, of Season 7, "The Dark... Whatever". The "Phantom" arsonist strikes again. He had previously burned people alive in a car, an elevator and a restaurant.  This time, his target is a bus. As the scene opens, a guy (Joseph Jensen) gets on a bus and walks to the back.  His fellow passengers don't pay much attention. He opens a duffel bag, takes out a silver, fire-proof suit and puts it on.  Then he starts spraying people with kerosene (or some other liquid accelerant). At this moment, passengers start fleeing the bus. But we then see the back of the bus explode into flames, trapping at least a few of the remaining passengers in the fire. In the next scene, the police are on the crime scene. Dexter boards the bus, and sees bloody sheets covering the victims.  Bosso, the odd Arson Investigator is sniffing the bodies. Debra mentions that behavior and asks Dexter if he suspects Bosso.   He says no, that he has an alibi. Debra is upset to learn that Dexter has already vetted him. Masuka comes out to say that they have found a security camera on the bus. Q. What is it actually in real life? A. A bus, on a public street. Q. Where can I find it in real life? A. When the scene opens, the bus is headed east on Bay Shore Avenue, and stops at the corner of Vista Street, in Long Beach, CA.

(Here is a matching StreetView.)


This is where the "Phantom" arsonist begins his attack, and people start escaping from the bus.  And the bus is still parked there in the subsequent investigation scene.


That's the exact same intersection where they filmed the "barrel girls" truck accident back in Season 5.


Bay Shore runs along the channel that separates the mainland from Naples Island (on the mainland side).


In the scene, you can glimpse homes on the island (as well as the boats docked in the channel) in the background when Dexter is talking to Debra.


Bay Shore runs from Appian Way all the way south to the ocean, curving along the water on its way there.  This spot is around 290 Bay Shore.


I shot these photos in 2010:





The photo above is looking east up Bay Shore Ave. The stop sign is where the bus stopped.


The photo below is a closer shot of that same stop sign, looking northeast, at Bay Shore & Vista.



Here is an aerial photo of the intersection.  Here is a Google StreetView.  And here is a map link.

Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?

A.  In 2010, I was at this intersection, walking around, shooting the photos you see above, to match the "Barrel Girls" accident scene.  Little did I know that two years later, that exact same spot would also be used for the burning bus scene...

In September 2012, I had heard that they would be filming at Appian Way & Bay Shore. So I drove by early that day, and spotted the bus (complete with Miami decals and a fake ad on the side) parked in the Marine Stadium lot on Appian Way.
I shot this photo of the bus there:

So I had assumed that the bus scene would be on Appian Way.  But when I watched the show, I was surprised to see that they actually ended up shooting it on Bay Shore, at Vista.