5 ms·

Greyhound stations are leaving downtowns after sale to notorious investment firm

33 points by elsewhen 3y ago

kylehotchkiss 3y ago
This makes me curious to see what greyhound would look like if Amtrak purchased it. Use existing train stations where they're built, somewhat decent brand recognition, connection with trains, potentially having busses to fall back on when trains don't work.
- NewJazz 3y ago
  Amtrak already has a lot of bus routes.
- JCharante 3y ago
  Maybe not what you meant, but a lot of train stations are also bus stations. For example, you can go from Boston to Worcester via Commuter Rail (amtrak also stops there but for a different route) or via Bus. Bus is usually faster but they're always late, so I used to take the commuter rail. Boston's South Station, which is linked to New York City via Amtrak (slow train and Acela) also has a bus terminal next to it which goes to many more destinations. You can also take the Amtrak from Boston North Station up through Portland, ME to Brunswick. The station in Portland also is home to a bus company (not Greyhound), which also goes to Boston & other places. Anyways, in short most cities connected by amtrak are also already connected by bus, so a greyhound acquisition isn't necessary (and some locations aren't desirable, the Portland one is in a terrible spot)
ratg13 3y ago
Dropping people off in the middle of nowhere with no transportation. What could go wrong?
- fyokdrigd 3y ago
  maybe they are making more on the side of the business who is buying the station real state? corporate raiders works in strange, well, actually, simplistic and dumb ways.
rootsudo 3y ago
I consider greyhound an essential service but it is fully private. They can sell off their stations piece by piece, gut whats profitable, stop service, etc. leaving downtowns or just stopping service to a destination is the same thing. What can be done to stop this? Why should it be stopped? I also consider greyhound bus stops social blight, they're pretty scary because of the clientelle. Many passangers are being bussed out from the city on one way tickets (https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/city-of-denver-giving-homeless-people-one-way-bus-tickets-out-of-town/ https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/city-of-denver...) , out of jail/prison with one way tickets https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-prison-releases-bus-met-20150317-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-prison-releases-bus-m...), etc. This will be a pollarizing post, but whats there to be done with this? Can you force greyhound not to sell their real estate? Nationalize it? Subsidize it more to keep their real estae. Enforce that they have minimum for a bus stop in the USA? Is there a minimum for the local transit authority that has bus stops e.g. a literal sign and maybe a shelter and a bench? They are apparantly pushing record profits: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/flixbus-greyhound-owner-reports-record-revenue-forecasts-20-growth-2023-2023-02-15/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/flixbu... not the first time to nationalize it came up: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/20/the-us-should-nationalize-the-greyhound-bus-company-hear-me-out https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/20/the-us... pandemic would've been the time. So what's next? At what point would it be cheaper to discontinue greyound bus service, gut real estae for it's value and leave?
- csomar 3y ago
  Greyhound is not the problem here and not sure why you are expecting them to solve this (a social problem). Forcing them will just ensure that once they fail no other private entity will get in this space ever again.
  - 4765688555 3y ago
    Yeah! That'd be a real tragedy if companies whose specialize in shipping junkies around the country died forever.
MandieD 3y ago
Biggest reverse culture shock I experience when planning trips back home from greater Nuremberg to Texas: it is pretty much impossible to get from city to city without a car, even if you have a high tolerance for long, convoluted bus routes. Germany’s transportation systems aren’t perfect, but it’s at least possible to live a mobile, middle class life without a car.

33 points by elsewhen 3y ago

This makes me curious to see what greyhound would look like if Amtrak purchased it. Use existing train stations where they're built, somewhat decent brand recognition, connection with trains, potentially having busses to fall back on when trains don't work.

NewJazz 3y ago
Amtrak already has a lot of bus routes.
JCharante 3y ago
Maybe not what you meant, but a lot of train stations are also bus stations. For example, you can go from Boston to Worcester via Commuter Rail (amtrak also stops there but for a different route) or via Bus. Bus is usually faster but they're always late, so I used to take the commuter rail. Boston's South Station, which is linked to New York City via Amtrak (slow train and Acela) also has a bus terminal next to it which goes to many more destinations. You can also take the Amtrak from Boston North Station up through Portland, ME to Brunswick. The station in Portland also is home to a bus company (not Greyhound), which also goes to Boston & other places. Anyways, in short most cities connected by amtrak are also already connected by bus, so a greyhound acquisition isn't necessary (and some locations aren't desirable, the Portland one is in a terrible spot)

ratg13 3y ago

Dropping people off in the middle of nowhere with no transportation. What could go wrong?

fyokdrigd 3y ago
maybe they are making more on the side of the business who is buying the station real state? corporate raiders works in strange, well, actually, simplistic and dumb ways.

rootsudo 3y ago

I consider greyhound an essential service but it is fully private. They can sell off their stations piece by piece, gut whats profitable, stop service, etc. leaving downtowns or just stopping service to a destination is the same thing. What can be done to stop this? Why should it be stopped? I also consider greyhound bus stops social blight, they're pretty scary because of the clientelle. Many passangers are being bussed out from the city on one way tickets (https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/city-of-denver-giving-homeless-people-one-way-bus-tickets-out-of-town/ https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/next/city-of-denver...) , out of jail/prison with one way tickets https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-prison-releases-bus-met-20150317-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-prison-releases-bus-m...), etc. This will be a pollarizing post, but whats there to be done with this? Can you force greyhound not to sell their real estate? Nationalize it? Subsidize it more to keep their real estae. Enforce that they have minimum for a bus stop in the USA? Is there a minimum for the local transit authority that has bus stops e.g. a literal sign and maybe a shelter and a bench? They are apparantly pushing record profits: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/flixbus-greyhound-owner-reports-record-revenue-forecasts-20-growth-2023-2023-02-15/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/flixbu... not the first time to nationalize it came up: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/20/the-us-should-nationalize-the-greyhound-bus-company-hear-me-out https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/20/the-us... pandemic would've been the time. So what's next? At what point would it be cheaper to discontinue greyound bus service, gut real estae for it's value and leave?

csomar 3y ago
Greyhound is not the problem here and not sure why you are expecting them to solve this (a social problem). Forcing them will just ensure that once they fail no other private entity will get in this space ever again.
- 4765688555 3y ago
  Yeah! That'd be a real tragedy if companies whose specialize in shipping junkies around the country died forever.

MandieD 3y ago

Biggest reverse culture shock I experience when planning trips back home from greater Nuremberg to Texas: it is pretty much impossible to get from city to city without a car, even if you have a high tolerance for long, convoluted bus routes. Germany’s transportation systems aren’t perfect, but it’s at least possible to live a mobile, middle class life without a car.