Columbus and Greyhound's relationship is burning to the ground. That's a very bad thing.

Columbus needs more safe, reliable and affordable transportation options for visitors, travelers and residents — not fewer.

That's why it's unacceptable that the relationship between the city of Columbus, Greyhound Lines and Barons Bus has all but burned to the ground. There must be a reset to preserve intercity bus service in Columbus.

As many in central Ohio work to bring rail transportation back to the region through Amtrak, city leaders are in a heated dispute with the transportation companies that provide two of the few public ground transportation services for those who want to get in or out of the region.

There is blame on all sides.

Ginther v. Greyhound: Key dates in the legal battle to shutter the bus depot

The bus companies have not provided the safe service Columbus area residents and travelers deserve. City officials have demonstrated an egregious lack of foresight that has deepened and only shifted a solvable problem to a new location.

Even worse, just before he won reelection, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther allegedly tried to influence a judge deciding the fate of a bus station.

How did we get here?

Greyhound operated for more than 50 years out of a once state-of-the-art station at 111 E. Town St. downtown.

Ongoing crime issues at that 2.45-acre station rightly put Greyhound and Barons in the city's crosshairs. It averaged more than two police calls a day from January 2020 to July 2021 for incidents ranging from stabbings and assaults to overdoses and shootings.

Threats of code violations at the downtown site ramped up just weeks before COTA announced on July 21, 2021, that it would buy the centrally located station for redevelopment at a cost that added up to $9.5 million. Greyhound has left or is leaving decades-long downtown locations in Dayton, Cincinnati, Cleveland and several other cities.

On June 27, Greyhound announced it would open a new depot at 845 N. Wilson Road, the site of a former gas station on Columbus' West Side.

Complaints about crime and noise from nearby Hilltop residents and businesses began almost immediately after the depot opened a short time later.

Columbus resident Joe Motil, then Ginther's challenger for mayor, slammed Ginther's administration for apparently signing off on plans for the depot that were submitted to the city's building and zoning services.

In late August, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein filed a lawsuit asking a judge to order the Wilson Road station "to cease all operations" until "criminal activity," code violations and other problems are addressed.

City should work with the bus companies not threaten them

Ginther became personally involved, sending a letter to a Barons official on July 28.

"It is my sincere hope you will come to the realization that it is not in your best interest to continue to operate at the N. Wilson Road location," the mayor wrote. "If not, we intend to use every available tool to force you to cease operations and relocate operations to a suitable site."

Ginther's poorly veiled threats point to a lack of planning and vision.

Nearly two years passed between the time COTA announced it would buy the old Greyhound station and the companies' move to the new Wilson Road location.

The city and the companies should have worked to ensure a suitable location was identified in that timeframe to preserve options for those seeking out-of-town travel by passenger bus.

They didn't do it then, but they can do so now.

The need for more ways for Ohioans to travel to other cities is often raised as justification for the proposed plan for Amtrak lines connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton.

Columbus is the nation's largest city without passenger rail service. It should not also be the largest city without Greyhound, the nation's largest intercity bus service.

There is much work to do.

Crime issues — some of them serious — at the downtown station have been transported to a new neighborhood.

Ginther's alleged phone call

A 27-year-old Columbus man was arraigned on a felonious assault charge Jan. 26 for allegedly biting off part of a security guard's ear. On Oct. 8, 42-year-old Rhys R. Jones was shot and killed at the station.

Two-days after Jones' death, Ginther allegedly called Franklin County Municipal Court Environmental Judge Stephanie Mingo and left a message that he wanted to talk about the case.

Mingo said she spoke to Ginther Oct. 11. The following day, she told attorneys for the city and Barons and Greyhound that an "elected official" contacted her about the lawsuit and told her to do the "right thing" and shut the station down.

After the November election, Mingo revealed that the elected official who contacted her was Ginther.

The issue of the call is not resolved.

Klein has appointed a special prosecutor, Whitehall City Attorney Brad Nicodemus, to review the case.

Regardless of the outcome of Nicodemus' investigation, the saga must be resolved in a way that does not drive Greyhound and Barons out of town.

Columbus and its people must continue to move forward.

This piece was written by Dispatch Opinion Editor Amelia Robinson on behalf of the editorial board of the Columbus Dispatch. Editorials are fact-based assessments of issues of importance to the communities we serve. These are not the opinions of our reporting staff members, who strive for neutrality in their reporting.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus is in brawl with Greyhound. That's terrible for the future