WEST LOOP – LaKei Carter has come to Chicago often this summer.
The Toledo, Ohio-based fashion designer appears as an extra in “The Chi” and has taken the bus here four times since June to film. Each trip has taken her past Chicago’s Greyhound terminal at 630 W. Harrison St., where several bus lines depart for people heading into the city or waiting for connections elsewhere.
From her fellow riders to the drivers and other employees she encountered, Carter had nothing but good things to say about the bus ride as she waited for a Lyft bike outside the station Wednesday morning.
“Everyone is helpful because I don’t know where I’m going and things like that. And they’ve been very polite,” she said. “I’ve never had any problems.”
Driver Tom Higley’s experience was not quite as positive.
At 9 a.m. Wednesday, Higley’s 48-hour bus journey from South Florida to Chicago was nearly over. He had about an hour left before he had to begin the final leg of his journey to Lansing, Michigan, where he planned to visit his grandmother.
Higley spent the layover at the Chicago terminal. He wasn’t so lucky throughout his trip, however. After taking a bus from Port St. Lucie to Hollywood, Florida, earlier in the week, Higley waited for hours outside a station with no restroom facilities for his next ride.
This experience may be just a taste of what is about to happen to Chicago’s intercity bus riders as the Greyhound station faces imminent closure.
Greyhound parent company Flix North America’s lease on the Harrison Street property is set to expire in October, and company CEO Kai Boysan told the Sun-Times this week that the station could be vacated as early as mid-September.
If that happens, it’s not yet clear where the dozens of buses that drop off and pick up passengers at the terminal each day will go. Some companies may offer curbside service instead — or take passengers to a specific location that has not yet been announced by the city.
One possibility would be to allow passengers to board the CTA transit center at the corner of Canal Street and Jackson Boulevard while waiting at Union Station across the street. But that plan is not final and negotiations are ongoing, John Roberson, the city’s COO, told the Sun-Times on Thursday.
For more than a year, public transit advocates have been sounding the alarm about what they call a “slow-moving bomb” and a “huge problem” brewing for Chicago bus riders — one that could leave many travelers stranded and potentially reduce the number of buses running through the city.
Last month, more than 20 transportation and civic groups signed a public letter urging Mayor Brandon Johnson to provide funds to purchase the Greyhound terminal and lease space to bus companies to maintain operations.
However, the city confirmed this week that it has no plans to do so. Instead, it is “exploring alternative options to ensure that intercity bus service continues without interruption,” a spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, passengers fear they could find themselves in dangerous situations if they do not have a safe place to wait for their transfers or simply to go home or to work – like Carter did on Wednesday.
“Dropping me off as a stranger is not comfortable,” Carter said. “You know, I’m not afraid of anyone, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable putting myself in that situation… I just don’t think it’s OK.”
“A disservice to everyone”
Greyhound has operated from its terminal at the corner of Desplaines and Harrison Streets since the late 1980s. Other bus lines such as Barons, Burlington Trailways and FlixBus also serve the station.
About 500,000 people use the terminal each year, says Professor Joe Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute at DePaul University, where he researches urban planning and transportation issues. He is also the author of “Terminal Town,” a history of Chicago’s airports, bus terminals and railroad stations.
Schwieterman said intercity buses are an important travel option for the elderly, low-income passengers, people with disabilities and people who cannot or do not want to drive.
But in recent years, Greyhound stations have been closed across the country.
In 2021, the bus company was acquired by FlixBus, excluding the Chicago terminal and numerous other properties. The following year, an affiliate of hedge fund Alden Global Capital bought 33 Greyhound stations, which they are selling, according to Axios.
The last three years have served as a kind of “grace period” in the hope that a permanent solution for bus riders in Chicago can be found, Schwieterman said recently in a public hearing before a City Council committee.
But with the terminal’s lease expiring in a few weeks, there is still no official plan to accommodate bus service – and the impact could be massive, transportation activists told Block Club.
Losing the station would be “real chaos” and could cause significant inconvenience to travelers as well as increased congestion on Chicago streets where buses could potentially pick up and drop off passengers, Schwieterman said.
In addition, bus companies without their own terminal could offer fewer services and transfers, Schwieterman and Micheál Podgers, policy director of the advocacy group Better Streets Chicago, said in interviews last month.
“As a result, a lot of riders are going to lose their transportation options between cities, and that affects everyone from tourists to students to lower-income riders to people who just need to get to Madison, for example,” Podgers said. “That’s definitely going to be an economic hit to the city, but also to our sister cities across the region. And that’s a disservice to everyone at this point.”
Proponents point out that Philadelphia is a “copy” of what could happen in Chicago.
The Philadelphia Greyhound station closed last year after more than 35 years of operation. The city has moved the designated bus pickup area several times since then, leading to complaints from riders about the lack of waiting space and indoor amenities, as well as problems with neighbors and nearby businesses.
“That’s pretty much what we’re going to have here,” Schwieterman said. “This isn’t just a case where passengers are going to suffer. We’re going to see a lot of backlash as people walk out into the streets with their luggage, disrupting traffic on the sidewalks and affecting the aesthetics of the neighborhood. That’s what’s happening in Philadelphia.”
Takeover will not take place, says the city
In their July letter, transportation advocates and citizen activists called on the city or another public entity to purchase the Greyhound station, saying the move could lead to better bus service at the currently underused terminal.
Schwieterman estimates that purchasing the site could cost about $40 million. While that’s not a small chunk of money, he admits, it’s a much cheaper option than building a standalone terminal elsewhere.
This step would not be an isolated case: in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and others, there is some degree of citizen participation in bus stations everywhere.
Podgers agreed that the city purchasing the terminal and leasing it to bus companies would be the “best-case scenario” for Chicago-based riders and those just passing through.
But in a statement Wednesday, a Chicago Department of Transportation spokesman said that while the city has been exploring options to “maintain a terminal” in Chicago since last year, nothing has been finalized – and that there will be no purchase of the current station.
“The City of Chicago applied for federal Bus and Bus Facility Program funding to purchase the existing terminal, but the application was denied. The City also explored purchasing the existing facility but determined that the acquisition was not financially feasible,” said agency spokeswoman Erica Schroeder. “Currently, the City is evaluating alternative options to ensure intercity bus service continues without interruption.”
One possibility could be to use Union Station and the nearby CTA transit center as a temporary site, Roberson told the Sun-Times.
The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment this week.
In its own statement on Wednesday, Greyhound’s parent company provided few details about the negotiations with the city or where the buses might be deployed.
“Intercity buses are essential to Chicago’s transportation ecosystem and provide vital services to vulnerable populations, including minority groups, low-income communities, students, people with disabilities and those without cars,” Boysan, CEO of Flix North America, said in the statement. “We remain optimistic that all local stakeholders recognize the urgent need for a decision and will soon come together for the benefit of city residents to agree on a formalized solution that ensures continued service for riders.”
Advocates are urging the city to find a permanent solution that doesn’t hinder long-distance bus service or hurt travelers, with hopes that a City Council committee hearing on the issue scheduled for next month can buy time before the Harrison terminal is closed.
Many remain frustrated with the process and inaction from City Hall and other levels of government – what Schwieterman described as “hot potato quality” because no one is taking responsibility for the potential problems to come.
“The city cannot pretend it didn’t know this was going to happen. It received warnings from the company, from stakeholders and from other cities,” Podgers said this week. “It remains frustrating that something that could be resolved relatively straightforwardly is not being resolved. And that is largely because the mayor’s office and CDOT have chosen not to pay attention to it.”
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