Public transit experts implored Chicago leaders Tuesday to prevent a transportation crisis from happening when the Greyhound bus station downtown is closed.
The lease on the building that handles more than 500,000 passengers a year is set to expire in late September and there’s no Plan B in place to accommodate riders, advocates said.
“You simply can’t drop somebody out on the street in January and say, ‘Wait here, three hours in the snow,’” DePaul University transportation Professor Joseph Schwieterman said at an online forum.
The event included representatives from DePaul’s Chaddick Institute on Metropolitan Development, the Chicago City Council, Better Streets Chicago, and FlixBus, whose parent company acquired Greyhound and runs myriad routes from the terminal.
The Chaddick Institute released a report Tuesday that found Chicago will become the largest city in the Northern Hemisphere without an intercity bus station if no indoor location is found.
Officials said the station’s owner, Twenty Lake Holdings, wants to develop the property for residential use. Twenty Lake Holdings did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
“Time is running out. We’re in a dire situation,” FlixBus Head of Public Affairs Gilda Brewton said.
The bus station, built in 1989, handles arrivals from and departures to cities including Bloomingdale, Champaign, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Davenport, DeKalb, Des Moines, Green Bay, Louisville, Indianapolis, Normal, Rockford, Springfield, St. Louis, Valparaiso.
In addition to out-of-state users, many riders hail from Chicago and the suburbs. They include low-income travelers, students, seniors, and people who are just “uncomfortable flying,” experts said.
While some are tourists or traveling to see family or look for work, a number come for specialized medical care. That includes women from states that ban abortions, advocates said.
Passengers inside the Greyhound bus terminal in Chicago, which is set to close in late September.
Marni Pyke/mpyke@dailyherald.com
“Recent numbers show the majority of passengers have household incomes of less than $50,000,” said Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute.
Transportation companies using the station are Barons Bus, Flixbus, Greyhound, and Trailways.
The loss of the station will lead to major service cuts, Schwieterman warned.
“If bus service to and from Chicago declines, that will have a cascading effect across the country,” said High Speed Rail Alliance Executive Director Rick Harnish, one of the speakers at the forum.
Activists said they were appalled no one — including the city of Chicago, other governmental organizations and planning agencies — has stepped in before the situation reached a crisis point.
Some short-term solutions include using Jackson Street at Union Station as a drop-off for riders, although experts acknowledged the site is crowded already. Other possibilities suggested were Ogilvie Transportation Center and the LaSalle Street Station.
Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa said the city was meeting with Amtrak, which owns Union Station, Tuesday to discuss a short-term fix.