The Columbus Bus Station was an intercity bus station in Downtown Columbus, Ohio. The station, managed by Greyhound Lines, also served Barons Bus Lines, Miller Transportation, GoBus, and other carriers. The current building was constructed in 1969. From 1979 until its closure in 2022, with the demolition of Union Station and a short-lived replacement, the Greyhound station was the only intercity transit center in the city.
Columbus has seen intercity bus transit since 1929, when a union station opened on Town Street. Sixteen companies, including a Greyhound bus company, operated there. In 1932, a competing bus terminal opened on State Street, operated by Greyhound. By 1940, the station was replaced by another Greyhound terminal, in a space neighboring the current bus station site. The 1940 terminal was lauded at its opening, though in following decades, it reportedly deteriorated and became a place of refuge for the homeless. The current bus station was built from 1968 to 1969 in a modern style, and featured numerous traveler amenities. Efforts to keep the station safe were successful early on, though the Greyhound Corporation proposed its sale by 1988. In 2021, following a shooting incident and reports of frequent police visits, the property was declared a public nuisance. Agreements were made to increase security, and the local mass transit agency, COTA, agreed to purchase and redevelop the site. Intercity bus services moved to a COTA facility in 2022, and COTA plans to demolish the 1969 station and create a mixed-use development on the property.
Attributes
Main entrance
The Greyhound station building sits on a 2.45-acre (1.0ha) site, taking up most of a city block.[1] The terminal is roughly bordered by Town and Rich streets to the north and south, and 3rd and 4th streets to the west and east.[2] The property includes the 32,000sqft (3,000m2) station, two smaller buildings, and a parking area for the intercity buses.[3] The station is built of brick and concrete, and has 20 bays for boarding buses. A landscaped pedestrian mall connects the building's set-back entrance to Town Street.[4] The station was open 24/7, and has entrances at every side; some were permanently closed.[2]
The bus station, managed by Greyhound Lines, also served Barons Bus Lines,[5] Miller Transportation, GoBus,[6] and other carriers. Flixbus coaches stopped on the south side of the station.[7] In 2021, the station saw about 34 buses stopping per day.[8]
The Greyhound site is considered an important property to city officials, given the scale of development taking place around it, as well as its location by Columbus Commons and the busy 3rd and 4th streets.[8][9]
History
Early stations
The 81 E. Town St. station in 194381 E. Town St. station, 1945
Among the first intercity bus stations in Columbus was the Union Bus Station, which opened around 1929 at 47 E. Town Street. 150 buses were estimated to use it per day, with platforms allowing for 12 buses to unload at once. The Union Bus Station was to have a 110-seat waiting room, restaurant, restrooms, soda fountains, news stands, tobacco shops, a barber, and a tailor. Sixteen companies operated out of it at opening, including the Greyhound Lines Columbus-Zanesville Transportation Company.[10]
On April 23, 1932, a new Greyhound bus terminal opened at 45 W. State Street (some reports gave its address as 40 or 43 W. State).[11] The building cost $55,000. Its opening included a series of events and celebrations, including a parade showing the evolution of road travel, reportedly including a Native American on a horse, an ox-cart pulled by oxen, a stagecoach, pony express, a tally-ho, Victorian phaeton, covered wagon, buck-board, horse and buggy, tandem bicycle, early automobiles and buses, a twin coach, and a then-modern Greyhound overnight coach. The new station had loading space for six buses, as well as a waiting room, ticket office, information desk, restrooms, and offices. The station was operated by the Pennsylvania Greyhound Co., a subsidiary of Greyhound Lines.[12] Five days after the new station's opening, Union Bus Station operators filed a lawsuit against Greyhound, alleging that Greyhound and other companies already entered into a contract to utilize the Union Bus Station from 1929 to 1939.[13]
On February 24, 1940, the Greyhound Terminal of Columbus opened at 81 E. Town St., at Town and 3rd streets' southwest corner. The new building was claimed to have the most complete layout of any Greyhound station, given thought-out passenger handling as well as an adjacent garage built to the rear of the station. The station was owned by the Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Atlantic Greyhound Lines. It featured a waiting room, restaurant, ticket offices, restrooms, bedrooms for dispatchers, a baggage room, and express office.[14] By 1967, the station was owned by the Pontifical College Josephinum.[15]
Current station
The Third Street side of the station included a streetside restaurant entranceAerial view of the station beside the Columbus City Center mall, 1990Station interior
Plans for a new Greyhound station were announced in 1967.[15] The new station was developed as part of an urban renewal project in the Market-Mohawk redevelopment area.[8] The project required the demolition of the historic Central Market[1] and an A&P grocery store once used as the city's central interurban station, and owned by the Pontifical College Josephinum.[15] Initial plans also called for a 1,000-vehicle parking garage atop the new station, though this plan was dropped in 1967,[16] seen as not economically feasible, and given that there were 1,000 spots within a one-block distance of the terminal.[17]
Ground broke for the station in 1968,[4] and it opened on August 1, 1969. The new terminal cost $2.5 million, and was five times larger than the prior facility. At its opening, the station had general offices and a Travelers Aid station.[18] Post House, a Greyhound restaurant subsidiary, operated a cafeteria, cocktail lounge, snack bar, gift shop, and game room in the new station.[4]
By October 1969, a murder had already taken place outside the new station.[19]
In 1972, Columbus policeman Thomas R. Stroud became known for keeping the station safe. Police and Greyhound officials were keen to keep the 1969 station clean and safe for visitors, as according to The Columbus Dispatch, the old station had "deteriorated into a haven for a variety of undesirables ranging from vagrants and drunks to deviates." Stroud began patrolling the station around April 1972, and arrested or ticketed 105 people within two months.[20]
In 1988, the Greyhound Corporation proposed selling, leasing, or creating a joint-venture for the property. The corporation envisioned a multi-use space with office and retail functions, and potentially a hotel. At the time, the Columbus City Center mall was being constructed adjacent to the property. A 1988 feasibility study for the proposed Greater Columbus Convention Center suggested Greyhound Lines relocate there, which Greyhound officials supported.[21]
In 1990, the Dial Corporation put the station up for sale, asking $4.2 million. Greyhound planned to move elsewhere in the city, preferably downtown, if the station building was sold.[2] A local realty company began negotiations to purchase it in 1995, with the possibility of Greyhound relocating.[3]
A 1995 article detailed the lack of security in the building, partially because all of its entrances were kept open. Homeless residents would stay there and use its coin-operated lockers, leading Greyhound to remove seats and replace the lockers with computer-coded ones with a higher user cost.[2] By 2000, the station became a "gritty gathering point" for visitors, looking worn and grimy. At the time, it saw 1.4 million passengers travel through per year.[22]
Throughout the early 21st century, the station has not been well maintained, and has attracted crime, including stabbings, gun-related complaints, drug overdoses, and assaults. Police made 1,200 visits to the station in 2020 and 300 in the first half of 2021, and often multiple times per day.[8] A May 2021 shooting left a victim in critical condition. In June 2021, a city of Columbus attorney declared the property a public nuisance, requesting a hearing where the city could force the facility's closure for up to a year.[24] An agreement made in the county municipal court required Greyhound to have at least two 24-hour private security guards, to maintain security cameras, and enforce additional security measures.[25]
A few months later, in July, the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) purchased the property for $9.4 million.[9] The transit agency plans to demolish the bus station and create a multi-use development, including a transit center on-site, to serve regular buses in addition to planned east-west and northwest BRT routes. COTA officials believe transit should be a secondary feature of the new development.[8] The city government and Columbus Downtown Development Corporation will partner in planning the site.[1]The Columbus Dispatch reported that there are no plans to move the COTA headquarters there, though the agency's chief development officer suggested COTA could move its offices there and sell its current headquarters.[8][1]
Intercity bus service was set to move to COTA's South Transit Terminal in fall 2021.[8] The station operations moved on April 1, 2022.[26] In June 2023, the station relocated to a former gas station on the city's west side.[27] Since COTA's purchase of the old bus station, the site has sat vacant. COTA and the Columbus Downtown Development Corporation are planning an interim use of the property, likely to complement the nearby Columbus Commons park or to become an extension of the park.[28] Meanwhile, Greyhound's west side station is facing code violations, and was ordered by the city to fix the violations by August 18, 2023, or risk closing.[29] On October 8, 2023, a man was shot and killed at the Wilson Rd. station. A suspect was arrested on scene and was later charged with murder.[30]
Strikes
Greyhound has a history of its workers going on strike. Some of these have affected service at the station, though a strike in 1941 across the Central Greyhound Lines did not directly affect Columbus, which at the time serviced only the Pennsylvania Greyhound Lines and the Ohio and Atlantic Lines.[31]
An unauthorized strike took place in November 1971, a walkout by about 150 members of the Amalgamated Transit Union. The act halted service between Columbus and most local and major cities, though not on the Lake Shore Line, operated by an independent company.[32]
The Union Station Bus Terminal is the central intercity bus terminal in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in Downtown Toronto on the second floor of the south tower of CIBC Square, on the northeast corner of Bay Street and Lake Shore Boulevard. The terminal currently serves GO Transit regional buses as well as Coach Canada, Greyhound Lines and Ontario Northland long-distance bus services, among others. Owned by the provincial Crown agency Metrolinx, the terminal is connected by pedestrian walkways to the adjacent Union Station, Canada's busiest transportation hub.
The Toronto Coach Terminal is a decommissioned bus station for intercity bus services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was the central intercity bus station in Toronto until mid-2021, when it was replaced by the Union Station Bus Terminal. It is located at 610 Bay Street, in the city's downtown. Opened in 1931 as the Gray Coach Terminal, the Art Deco style structure was the main hub for Gray Coach, an interurban coach service then owned by the Toronto Transportation Commission (TTC). It replaced an earlier open air depot, the Union Coach Terminal.
The Central Ohio Transit Authority is a public transit agency serving the Columbus metropolitan area, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. It operates fixed-route buses, bus rapid transit, microtransit, and paratransit services.
Columbus Union Station was an intercity train station in Downtown Columbus, Ohio, near The Short North neighborhood. The station and its predecessors served railroad passengers in Columbus from 1851 until April 28, 1977.
The Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal was the primary intercity bus station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station's function relocated to 618 Market Street between Sixth and Seventh Streets in Center City Philadelphia. Prior to relocating to its current Market Street location on June 27, 2023, the terminal was located at 1001 Filbert Street in Center City Philadelphia.
The South Bend Public Transportation Corporation is a municipal bus system that serves the cities of South Bend and Mishawaka, as well as the nearby suburbs of Notre Dame and Roseland, in the very north of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the most recent incarnation of the South Bend Railway Company, a street railway company that was founded on May 25, 1885. Transpo receives funding from local, state and federal taxes. In 2022, the system had a ridership of 1,145,500, or about 4,300 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2023.
The Gateway Multimodal Transportation Center, also known as Gateway Station, is a rail and bus terminal station in the Downtown West neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Opened in 2008 and operating 24 hours a day, it serves Amtrak trains and Greyhound and Burlington Trailways interstate buses. Missouri's largest rail transportation station, it is located one block east of St. Louis Union Station.
The Grant Street Transportation Center is an intercity bus station and parking garage in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The facility is operated by the Pittsburgh Parking Authority and takes up an entire city block, with the ground floor hosting the bus station and some retail space. Upper floors are dedicated to parking.
Public transit has taken numerous forms in Columbus, the largest city and capital of Ohio. Transit has variously used passenger trains, horsecars, streetcars, interurbans, trolley coaches, and buses. Current service is through the Central Ohio Transit Authority's bus system, numerous intercity bus companies, and through bikeshare, rideshare, and electric scooter services.
CMAX is a bus rapid transit (BRT) service in Central Ohio, operated by the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA). The line begins in Downtown Columbus, traveling northeast to Westerville. CMAX is Central Ohio's first bus rapid transit line; it began operation in 2018.
The former Columbus Railway, Power & Light office is a historic building in the Milo-Grogan neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. The two-story brick structure was designed by Yost & Packard and built in the 1890s as a transportation company office. The property was part of a complex of buildings, including a power plant, streetcar barn, and inspection shop. The office building, the only remaining portion of the property, was utilized as a transit office into the 1980s, and has remained vacant since then. Amid deterioration and lack of redevelopment, the site has been on Columbus Landmarks' list of endangered sites since 2014.
LinkUS is a transportation initiative in Central Ohio, United States. The project aims to create approximately five rapid transit corridors to support the metro population of Columbus, the capital and largest city in Ohio.
The Chicago Bus Station is an intercity bus station in the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. The station, managed by Greyhound Lines, also serves Barons Bus Lines, Burlington Trailways and Flixbus. The current building was constructed in 1989. Since it was built, the facility has been the only intercity bus station in the city.
The Detroit Bus Station is an intercity bus station in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan. The station, managed by Greyhound Lines, also serves Barons Bus Lines, Flixbus and Indian Trails. The current building was constructed in 1991.
The Kansas City Bus Station is an intercity bus station in the Paseo West neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri. The station, managed by Greyhound Lines, also serves Jefferson Lines. The current building was constructed in 1989.
The Omaha Bus Station is an intercity bus station in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. The station, managed by Burlington Trailways, also serves Express Arrow and Jefferson Lines. The current building was constructed in 1948.
The Sioux Falls Bus Station is an intercity bus station on the west side of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The station, opened in the mid-2010s, serves Jefferson Lines buses to destinations across the Upper Midwest.
The Des Moines Bus Station is an intercity bus station in the River Bend neighborhood of Des Moines, Iowa. The station, managed by Burlington Trailways, also serves Jefferson Lines. The current building was opened as a bus terminal in 2013.
The Hawthorne Transportation Center is an intercity bus station in the Downtown West neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The station, managed by Greyhound Lines, also serves Flixbus, Jefferson Lines, and Land to Air Express. The current building was opened as a bus terminal in 2000.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 51, 52, 61, 71, 72, 73, 74 
CoGo 
