Greyhound Bus is now getting out or selling its bus stations of which there are dozens across the USA. Kinda sad since the Streamline Mondern Art Deco Stations where part of American Culture for a long time.- Greyhound was sold to a German Budget Bus Company outfit called FLIX https://www.busandmotorcoachnews.com/flix-north-america-launched-to-oversee-flixbus-and-greyhound/ Having used Greyhound to fill in the gaps between intercity train service in the USA and Canada and now learning that I will have to stand in the rain on some street corner like some of of my Megabus and Chinatown passengers is not fun to think about.
There was a time when Bus Travel was not a bad way to go up untill 1970 early 1980 something-
Trailways and Greyhound have severed their interline ticket sharing agreements-
and I just wanted to point out that both Greyhound and Trailways have railroad connections as Greyhound was owned in part by the Pennsy and Trailways had divisions that were owned by the Sante Fe and Burlington Railroads. The concept was that as branch lines faded out the bus routes would fill in the gaps.
Oh- Greyhound/Trailways Stations had baggage personal that tranfered your bags. They had also had more rural routes to small towns and even tried a sleeper service for a short time. They had contracts with budget motels to put people up in bad weather and a rental car service. Also this I believe went out about 1988. There was a time when Greyhound and Trailways advertised on TV and Radio and wanted the Middle Class American Passenger to “Leave the Driving to Us”. Now the focus seems to be on the lower rung of passengers like the working poor and budget minded students who now find easer to rent a car or take Uber Long Distance. I have had many intresting conversations with guys who just got out of state and Federal Prison or are on work release at Intercity Bus Stations. These places are ripe for Gonzo Journalists or Experitial writers like Hunter S Thomson and George Plimpton https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/george-plimpton-film/5385/
Service to a lot of those small towns was the rough equivalent of railroad branchline operations and didn’t draw a lot of riders. It was the price the major carriers paid to operate the longer hauls that paid the bills. Most of the local services were discontinued with the advent of de-regulation.
IMO What is needd is much more Amtrak seervice with Thruway services connecting with the trains. Now it needs to be called “essential surface transportation services” That is awakard and surely someone can come up with a better name. The wirlines are pulling out of many smaller towns now. American pullins out of three more stations inclding one that leaves no service to a Texas town. As well from Columbus ga leaving just Delta.
Now this service needs to be subsidized just a Airline servce is now to some statios.
Ok 81 Million…that would be 160 Million including cost overruns and lawsuits and kickbacks on soft riverfront ground. After all this is New York State[:D]. Trailways was forced out by Greyhound last month with no notice as the land is more valuble then the bus system.
The Albany Parking Authority’s feasibility study, completed earlier this year, calls for tearing down the existing bus station on Hamilton Street and replacing it with a seven-story building that includes a six-floor parking garage with space for 885 cars.
Last year I took the Texas Eagle from Temple to Dallas three times. On two occasions, Number 21 was running three to four hours late. I was able to walk over to the Greyhound Station and catch a bus to Temple. The bus was scheduled to leave Dallas two hours after No. 21, but it arrived in Temple about the same time as No. 21 was scheduled to arrive. The bus station was clean, and the bus was comfortable.
Unfortunately, the connecting bus between Waco and Temple was discontinued. Dallas to Temple required a change from Greyhound to Trailways at Waco.
FlixBus instituted service from Dallas to Temple. It leaves Dallas Market Center (Harry Hines Blvd.) at 4:45 pm and arrives in Temple at 7:15 pm. It stops in Temple at a parking lot off of I-35. It is a mile from the parking lot to the Amtrak parking. Not a good option if the weather is poor.
Taking the Dog/Trailways/Peter Pan was fun at once opon a time up until just a few years ago. I and my ma would ride to little towns in New England like Lenox and Great Barrington either for a day trip or we would overnight in a roadside motel for 50 to 60 bucks. Drivers that worked for Peter Pan lived near the route and were talkative and knew all the local lores and legends. Peter Pickinely who founded Peter Pan in the 1940s (and now his sons and grandsons) was the last of a great generation of Transportation Executives who not only provided essential servive but made it enjoyable as well. Peter Pan has always been a family owned company while Greyhound has been owned by Dial Soap,Laidlaw Schoolbus,First Transit from Great Britain and now the German outfit FlixBus. Peter Pans offices were in the Springfield Ma Terminal and it was common to see Mr Picknelly walk around the Terminal. Other then Wick Moorman it is rare to see Amtrak brass walk around Washington Union Station.
My guess as to the station divestiture by FLIX of the stations in communities, they have long served; is not much more than a ‘new owner group’ maximizing their investments.
It happens in the railroad industry from time to time. Recall, sevral years back; the Bru-ha-ha, that happened when The Chldren’s Fund (?) went at a hostile takeover(?) of CSX ?
It almost began to look like the Investor group was setting up a ‘raid’ on the assets of CSX. I am sure that a fellow poster BaltACD who was working there at the time, can fill in the details of that incident. It seems to sound like the german group FLIX is on a similar track with The Hound(?)… Basicly, take the money, and run? [sigh]
It’s also possible that a fair number of these stations have become white elephants designed to handle a lot more traffic than is currently avaiable.
TCF’s run on CSX failed when the financial collapse of 2007-2009 overtook them and they had to divest their CSX holdings to cover the margin calls on the other parts of their leveraged house of cards. While TCF got the board control they desired, they had to sell it off before they could implement any policies.
EHH and his PSR have been a raid on the assets of CSX for the past six years.
I remember being in the Baltimore MD downtown station 15 years agand what a distopic nightmare that was a nightmare.Big huge monster security guards were manhanding and throwing out random people on to the cold wet asphalt sidewalks every 20 min into the night. Ticket or no Ticket. My bus was AWOL and they would not let me stay in the station so I had to find a Hostel at the time.
Poor baby[:'(]
One of the great money pits for any bus line would be having to maintain fixed terminals and stations at their own expense. This is why, for instance, the “$30 bus service” leaves from a street location in Silver Spring and drops off on a street two blocks from Penn Station – no Port Authority charges.
In many cases ‘bus stations’ are also hangouts for undesirable sorts of people, and any accidents or incidents occurring at or near the property could be grounds for perhaps steep liability. As with New Haven many decades ago, it may make sense to lease or even give the facilities to the cities in question, then if need be run or use them under contract.
In my opinion, any dollar spent on a station building is a dollar that should have been spent on amenities or service in actual buses. If need be, a counter in a store will serve as a place to buy tickets if you don’t have credit or a payment card or app. If cities want stations, have them subsidize or maintain them, ideally as multimodal ‘transfer stations’ like the ones in Memphis.
Is he the latest incarnation of he who shall not be named?
Modman mentioned Memphis, and how they have ‘created’ a multi-modal transport hub(?). I have not been there in some years; so my guess(?() is they ‘fell-back’ on an ‘old-plan’ to use the " Central [RR] Sation at Main St. and Calhoun as their solution(?). The two ‘former’ Bus Terminals {@! Union ve and 4th St.} (Both Greyhound, and Trailways) Even years ago were getting pretty, long in the tooth; with those afore mentioned company maintenance issues. It was a widedly, discussed issue, in the wake of their putting in the trolly lnes on Main St. and more lines in the mid-town areas(?).
He [Mod-man] is also accurate, in the discription of the 'assorted-types" that hung out around the bus station
Picture of typical Greyhound Art Deco Station in article below-
Chicago Bus Station- Notice 30 trips a day to Milw.WI-https://live.staticflickr.com/2807/34009752600_7cfbf3cb02_b.jpg
https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2011/06/10/greyhound-reveals-new-nashville.html
