'An unfair burden.' Greyhound leaves downtown Cincinnati, moves station to suburbs
Greyhound Lines Inc., the largest provider of intercity bus transportation in North America, has moved out of its downtown Cincinnati bus terminal and joined Barons Bus Lines at a new location in Arlington Heights, the company announced Wednesday.
Cleveland-based Barons, a Greyhound partner carrier, announced last week that it would move its local operations from the Cincinnati Greyhound station to a temporary terminal at 398 E. Galbraith Road, just off Interstate 75 near McCluskey Chevrolet.
Greyhound and Barons began operations Tuesday from the new pick-up and drop-off location, where they will offer service to more than 1,700 destinations nationwide, including Atlanta, Detroit, Nashville, and Louisville.
The abrupt shutdown of the Greyhound station, which was mostly abandoned Tuesday afternoon, elicited sharp criticism from local bus advocates.
"Moving it (Greyhound station) further away from the city puts an unfair burden on passengers trying to access service,'' said Celeste Treece, president of Cincinnati's Better Bus Coalition, which bills itself as a grassroots organization supporting investment in Hamilton County's bus system.
Treece said people who don't drive and rely on Greyhound to get from city to city will be forced to spend money on Uber or another ride-sharing service to get to the new bus station or take a Cincinnati Metro bus, which has its own drawbacks.
"The Metro bus lines that go through Arlington Heights don't run that frequently, but any bus would take you downtown to get on Greyhound,'' Treece said.
She said the bus coalition plans to issue a public statement by the end of the week admonishing Greyhound for moving without notifying customers well in advance and also calling for Metro to add more routes or service to the new Greyhound station.
Greyhound did not return emails Wednesday. Meanwhile, the owners of the old Greyhound station on Gilbert Avenue near the Hard Rock Casino are preparing for future development of the site.
The Greyhound station was sold last year for $4.25 million to Downtown-based Chavez Properties.
Future use of the site might include office, retail or residential development, even a new hotel, according to Martin Chavez II, asset manager with the family-owned parking facilities and commercial real estate firm.
"This is an attractive, underutilized piece of real estate, and we purchased the property with a long-range goal of sale and redevelopment,'' Chavez officials told The Enquirer in an email. "This real estate is destined for better use.''
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Greyhound leaves downtown Cincinnati for location in Arlington Heights
