ns8401 Posted March 9, 2023 Report Share Posted March 9, 2023 Good article on the 1926 built former Greyhound station in Oakland, California which closed in 2021. It sits abandoned and has suffered a couple of fires and the future looks grim: https://oaklandside.org/2023/03/09/oakland-greyhound-bus-station-abandoned-history-underground-raves-party-alden-global/ 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traildriver Posted March 10, 2023 Report Share Posted March 10, 2023 On 3/9/2023 at 8:59 AM, ns8401 said: My big question, even if California, Missouri sounds like it may be a podunk town somewhere… why would they leave the cars unlocked? Can’t say for sure, but I am thinking they leave cars in and around the showroom open, for shoppers to view, during the day, but lock them when closed… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 Posted March 14, 2023 Report Share Posted March 14, 2023 Couple of Cleveland related articles… one on the Greyhound Station which appears doomed as a bus station at the very least. The other is on overall service to and from Cleveland: https://www.clevescene.com/news/without-local-historic-landmark-status-outlook-of-clevelands-greyhound-station-could-be-grim-41586894?media=AMP+HTML https://www.cleveland.com/business/2023/03/megabus-returns-to-ohio-briefly-and-other-bus-companies-expand-but-not-in-cleveland.html?outputType=amp 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traildriver Posted March 15, 2023 Report Share Posted March 15, 2023 On 3/9/2023 at 7:29 PM, ns8401 said: Good article on the 1926 built former Greyhound station in Oakland, California which closed in 2021. It sits abandoned and has suffered a couple of fires and the future looks grim: https://oaklandside.org/2023/03/09/oakland-greyhound-bus-station-abandoned-history-underground-raves-party-alden-global/ Great article, thanks for posting! I have traveled thru that depot several times in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, but never really saw inside long enough to recall the details. Buck Travis’s company, if you count its early origins as a stage coach operation, goes back much further than the 1914 start on Minnesota’s Iron Range, that Greyhound considers as its genesis… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcmetro Posted March 15, 2023 Report Share Posted March 15, 2023 The Minneapolis terminal is moving from the Hawthorne Transportation Center a few blocks away to an unused bus stop at Parking Ramp B on the I-394 level. The bus stop has an indoor area with an elevator and staircase to reach the street. Flixbus (and previously, Megabus) stops at nearby Ramp A, but on the street level. https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/File/2023-00284 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 Posted March 15, 2023 Report Share Posted March 15, 2023 26 minutes ago, Tcmetro said: The Minneapolis terminal is moving from the Hawthorne Transportation Center a few blocks away to an unused bus stop at Parking Ramp B on the I-394 level. The bus stop has an indoor area with an elevator and staircase to reach the street. Flixbus (and previously, Megabus) stops at nearby Ramp A, but on the street level. https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/File/2023-00284 So Minneapolis is going curbside-ish? They will still sell tickets but it doesn’t exactly sound like a great place… kind of Columbus-like just no city buses. I wonder if Jefferson is coming too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tcmetro Posted March 15, 2023 Report Share Posted March 15, 2023 Yeah, it looks to be a bit smaller than the current terminal. I would hope Jefferson moves as well. Pretty much all Greyhound connections in Minneapolis are to JL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVTArider Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 Gmaps Streetview from the general traffic exit: https://goo.gl/maps/5rN2pNt3STzG8UZP7 Honestly moving there from Hawthorne is a good idea IMO compared to other options they could've gone with. (We know neither Greyhound/Flix or Jefferson are going to say hey, let's build a brand new terminal designed and located for ultimate customer convenience at this time. Not the most spacious spot but certainly better than a random repurposed retail storefront in a strip mall or just some exposed curbside stop. Connections to Metro Transit are much better there, just go up a level for a couple local bus routes, or walk a block and you're connected to both rail lines. I certainly hope Jefferson and Land to Air would move to this location. Given the plan shows space for three coaches lined up, and Greyhound only has one service departing there I assume that's the plan. From what I recall stopping down there ~8-10 years ago once when it was open the restrooms and lobby area were decent and fairly well insulated from the freeway noise. Now what'll be interesting to see is whether Greyhound does any sort of update or branding with this space. Or, if they literally just get someone off Craigslist to come throw up a makeshift counter with a plexiglass window, sheetrock a wall around and call it good. (a-la the Burlington Trailways remodel job in the old Omaha Greyhound terminal) EDIT: I forgot, I actually did take a couple photos when I was down there, it probably still looks similar to how it was in 2012: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 Posted March 16, 2023 Report Share Posted March 16, 2023 41 minutes ago, MVTArider said: Gmaps Streetview from the general traffic exit: https://goo.gl/maps/5rN2pNt3STzG8UZP7 Honestly moving there from Hawthorne is a good idea IMO compared to other options they could've gone with. (We know neither Greyhound/Flix or Jefferson are going to say hey, let's build a brand new terminal designed and located for ultimate customer convenience at this time. Not the most spacious spot but certainly better than a random repurposed retail storefront in a strip mall or just some exposed curbside stop. Connections to Metro Transit are much better there, just go up a level for a couple local bus routes, or walk a block and you're connected to both rail lines. I certainly hope Jefferson and Land to Air would move to this location. Given the plan shows space for three coaches lined up, and Greyhound only has one service departing there I assume that's the plan. From what I recall stopping down there ~8-10 years ago once when it was open the restrooms and lobby area were decent and fairly well insulated from the freeway noise. Now what'll be interesting to see is whether Greyhound does any sort of update or branding with this space. Or, if they literally just get someone off Craigslist to come throw up a makeshift counter with a plexiglass window, sheetrock a wall around and call it good. (a-la the Burlington Trailways remodel job in the old Omaha Greyhound terminal) EDIT: I forgot, I actually did take a couple photos when I was down there, it probably still looks similar to how it was in 2012: Better than I imagined it and at least it’s enclosed and presumably heated. Columbus can say neither about it’s parking garage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 Posted March 20, 2023 Report Share Posted March 20, 2023 Another round of angry people promoting a news story.. this time in Sacramento, California where folks have been stranded for a while. https://www.kcra.com/amp/article/sacramento-greyhound-customers-complain-of-delays-and-cancelations/43355905 I will say having the chance to play with rebooking people on their new website (the ticket agent literally uses the same site as the passengers right down to accepting terms and conditions every time, except it has a way to process cash payments and keep a running total) it sucks. People are reporting being on the phone on hold with the customer service for hours, we’ve seen multiple people way misrouted with no idea how to get back on track. We even had a wheelchair going from out west to down south get put on the wrong bus and ride from Chicago to Detroit and nobody caught it. I was trying to be nice and help this guy who had been trying to go from Jackson, Tennessee to Richmond, Virginia. His bus was cancelled beyond some point and he got rerouted to Atlanta then up to Detroit (it wanted him to get off in Toledo and wait 5 hours for the next Detroit bus but he missed that and was early when I found him so no big thing) he was supposed to go to Pittsburgh then Washington D.C. and finally Richmond. When I talked to him it had been 2 days and he was looking at 2 more. When I came back a couple hours later on my next break (commuter run) he had just received an email his bus to Pittsburgh was cancelled. When we went on their app it showed the cancellation and wouldn’t load any new times and the agency computer did the same thing. His only choice was to call customer service which he was less than thrilled about. They had tried a few times to make him buy a new ticket and blamed him for the cancelled buses or were claiming it ran or something to that effect. His situation is not unique and some of the people in the linked story are probably in the same boat. Fun times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 Posted March 21, 2023 Report Share Posted March 21, 2023 And now a similar story from Chicago: https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/chicago/news/stranded-greyhound-passengers-no-drivers/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCIBUS Posted March 21, 2023 Report Share Posted March 21, 2023 Is just me or does it seems like Flix doesn't care about what's happening to Greyhound? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traildriver Posted March 21, 2023 Report Share Posted March 21, 2023 3 hours ago, MCIBUS said: Is just me or does it seems like Flix doesn't care about what's happening to Greyhound? I really question the wisdom of them buying the Company…FirstGroup was lucky to find a naive buyer, apparently… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 Posted March 21, 2023 Report Share Posted March 21, 2023 2 hours ago, traildriver said: I really question the wisdom of them buying the Company…FirstGroup was lucky to find a naive buyer, apparently… I would say that’s accurate, they really didn’t understand the condition of the company they were buying. The fact it took two years to sell it and they bought it for pennies on the dollar should have been a clue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapidbus Posted March 21, 2023 Report Share Posted March 21, 2023 8 hours ago, MCIBUS said: Is just me or does it seems like Flix doesn't care about what's happening to Greyhound? Part of it I think is because there is a nationwide driver shortage. I think they can not fill all the schedules they have on paper today operationally. The only way to resolve that is to a) hire more drivers which is difficult because the turnover is insane. or b) cut schedules and miles. That is not optimal because you lose all potential connecting traffic 7 hours ago, traildriver said: I really question the wisdom of them buying the Company…FirstGroup was lucky to find a naive buyer, apparently… FirstGroup got real lucky to have a buyer at all. Especially post pandemic. I really wonder if Flix didn't buy them, would they have just shut the entire network down, like GLC? In that event, Flix may have saved the network, for a couple of years 5 hours ago, ns8401 said: I would say that’s accurate, they really didn’t understand the condition of the company they were buying. The fact it took two years to sell it and they bought it for pennies on the dollar should have been a clue. I think they were looking for market dominance without realizing the fact that the name carries a very negative image in people's mind 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 Posted March 22, 2023 Report Share Posted March 22, 2023 3 hours ago, Rapidbus said: Part of it I think is because there is a nationwide driver shortage. I think they can not fill all the schedules they have on paper today operationally. The only way to resolve that is to a) hire more drivers which is difficult because the turnover is insane. or b) cut schedules and miles. That is not optimal because you lose all potential connecting traffic FirstGroup got real lucky to have a buyer at all. Especially post pandemic. I really wonder if Flix didn't buy them, would they have just shut the entire network down, like GLC? In that event, Flix may have saved the network, for a couple of years I think they were looking for market dominance without realizing the fact that the name carries a very negative image in people's mind As quickly as they added it they axed a Cincinnati-Detroit-Cincinnati turn for lack of drivers. My understanding is that they had to cancel 5000 miles worth of runs yesterday or something. They have too many miles scheduled vs. available drivers… something they do every summer but I have never seen these issues in March. I can only imagine the summer if they don’t get this fixed. I think they bought it not understanding its condition is likely terminal and they will have to shut it down. Maybe they will choose the end of the current union contract as a deadline to see if it’s redeemable. I think the image is so tarnished that the ship has arrived in the other port by now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traildriver Posted March 22, 2023 Report Share Posted March 22, 2023 Before I applied for my current part time, post retirement position at Academy, I applied to Greyhound in Miami. My application online was almost immediately responded to, by a call to come in for an interview. I tentatively scheduled one, and had a few days to consider if I really wanted to take an offer. After careful deliberation, I called the recruiter back, and told him that due to “family matters”, I would have to postpone the interview until further notice. He sounded very disappointed and tried to coax me to come in, but I had to politely decline. He called me back a week later, and again urged me to come in, and I felt bad to basically waste his time, but I had to tell him that due to “family matters”, I was no longer interested. The point of this, is to show how desperate Greyhound must be to hire drivers. Once upon a time, to get hired by them was almost like winning a lottery… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 Posted March 23, 2023 Report Share Posted March 23, 2023 20 hours ago, traildriver said: Before I applied for my current part time, post retirement position at Academy, I applied to Greyhound in Miami. My application online was almost immediately responded to, by a call to come in for an interview. I tentatively scheduled one, and had a few days to consider if I really wanted to take an offer. After careful deliberation, I called the recruiter back, and told him that due to “family matters”, I would have to postpone the interview until further notice. He sounded very disappointed and tried to coax me to come in, but I had to politely decline. He called me back a week later, and again urged me to come in, and I felt bad to basically waste his time, but I had to tell him that due to “family matters”, I was no longer interested. The point of this, is to show how desperate Greyhound must be to hire drivers. Once upon a time, to get hired by them was almost like winning a lottery… I keep seeing people get hired in Detroit, train and vanish into the night… I rarely see them again. I think they have always had an issue over promising on schedules and under delivering. If it’s not drivers it’s a lack of useable coaches. I’ve had times where I’ve seen 6 buses and none available for one reason or another so schedules get cancelled. Next stop on our tour… Raleigh, North Carolina where folks are again stranded infinitely: https://www.wral.com/amp/stranded-in-raleigh-greyhound-passengers-distraught-over-12-plus-hour-waits/20775672/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megabus Rider Posted March 23, 2023 Report Share Posted March 23, 2023 It's the work environment with Greyhound. Drivers have said they were treated as an employee number, management constantly micro manages such as driving a unmarked car tailing buses and constant monitoring of the Drive Cam system. Those that have moved on to companies doing Ourbus noted different environment with both their family owned employers and passenger's attitude. Some may have gone on to Megabus or some may have rather do OTRs knowing they get to enjoy nice hotels and meals. Greyhound is known for having a toxic work environment. 22 hours ago, traildriver said: Before I applied for my current part time, post retirement position at Academy, I applied to Greyhound in Miami. My application online was almost immediately responded to, by a call to come in for an interview. I tentatively scheduled one, and had a few days to consider if I really wanted to take an offer. After careful deliberation, I called the recruiter back, and told him that due to “family matters”, I would have to postpone the interview until further notice. He sounded very disappointed and tried to coax me to come in, but I had to politely decline. He called me back a week later, and again urged me to come in, and I felt bad to basically waste his time, but I had to tell him that due to “family matters”, I was no longer interested. The point of this, is to show how desperate Greyhound must be to hire drivers. Once upon a time, to get hired by them was almost like winning a lottery… Don't blame you with your 'family matters' line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapidbus Posted March 25, 2023 Report Share Posted March 25, 2023 On 3/22/2023 at 11:33 PM, ns8401 said: I keep seeing people get hired in Detroit, train and vanish into the night… I rarely see them again. I think they have always had an issue over promising on schedules and under delivering. If it’s not drivers it’s a lack of useable coaches. I’ve had times where I’ve seen 6 buses and none available for one reason or another so schedules get cancelled. This is the exact reason why GLI can not afford to train it's driver the way they did in the past. You would have someone work for like 3 month and go on to drive something else. Sometimes I would imagine they don't even get the sign on bonus, but they still decided the work isn't for them They are in a tough situation, it seems like they would like to expand but without drivers they really can not do that. At this point it seems like the may need more tours that would do a same day return, drivers probably like the work life balance if they can return and sleep in their own bed every night On 3/23/2023 at 1:46 AM, Megabus Rider said: It's the work environment with Greyhound. Drivers have said they were treated as an employee number, management constantly micro manages such as driving a unmarked car tailing buses and constant monitoring of the Drive Cam system. Those that have moved on to companies doing Ourbus noted different environment with both their family owned employers and passenger's attitude. Some may have gone on to Megabus or some may have rather do OTRs knowing they get to enjoy nice hotels and meals. Greyhound is known for having a toxic work environment. Depends on the contractor, some are better than GLI, other's can be much worse, your mileage may vary One thing that is consistent is that none of the other carriers need to deal with the demographic Greyhound carries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 Posted March 26, 2023 Report Share Posted March 26, 2023 Boise, Idaho’s bus station has been turned into a temporary art space / concert venue. Beats the destruction at other stations. They even renovated it a bit. https://idahonews.com/amp/news/local/treefort-converts-old-greyhound-bus-station-into-temporary-venue 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 Posted March 31, 2023 Report Share Posted March 31, 2023 The Pacific Bus Museum has acquired the 1947 GMC PD3751 Silversides from the Greyhound collection that FLIX summarily dismissed from the property. It was built for Pacific Greyhound Lines which is appropriate: https://www.busandmotorcoachnews.com/pacific-bus-museum-acquires-a-historic-greyhound-bus/ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traildriver Posted March 31, 2023 Report Share Posted March 31, 2023 1 hour ago, ns8401 said: The Pacific Bus Museum has acquired the 1947 GMC PD3751 Silversides from the Greyhound collection that FLIX summarily dismissed from the property. It was built for Pacific Greyhound Lines which is appropriate: https://www.busandmotorcoachnews.com/pacific-bus-museum-acquires-a-historic-greyhound-bus/ So sad the magnificent collection will be broken up. At least that coach has found a good new home. I wonder where the rest will go? And notably absent from that list, is the ‘31 Mack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ns8401 Posted April 20, 2023 Report Share Posted April 20, 2023 One of a bunch of articles today about the prospect of the Chicago Greyhound station closing: https://abc7chicago.com/amp/greyhound-bus-station-chicago-closing-downtown/13155786/ The Chaddick Institute at DePaul University put out a report on it as well: https://las.depaul.edu/centers-and-institutes/chaddick-institute-for-metropolitan-development/research-and-publications/Documents/Brief on Greyhound Terminal.pdf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCIBUS Posted April 20, 2023 Report Share Posted April 20, 2023 Yeah actively looking for another location. Yeah what curb side location to pick & drop you off ebven if it's freezing outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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