Last November, when then-owner Twenty Lake Holdings announced plans to one day remodel the Greyhound station in downtown Cleveland, news came to light that the bus company and RTA were in talks to move the station out of the iconic building to a station twenty minutes west on Puritas.

In April, the RTA reassured transit advocates when it announced it had found a better solution for the service that Greyhound operates jointly with Barons Bus: It would move operations just three blocks south, to the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Transit Center on East 22nd Street, so it would remain centrally located.

But last Friday morning, everything was up in the air. The new place where travelers will one day board or arrive at Greyhounds will be a new stop being built at the RTA’s Brookpark Station near the airport.

The reason: too little space in the city center.

“Our Brookpark Station overflow parking lot provides the space Barons Bus needs to build a new transit center,” an RTA spokesperson told Scene in an email, “where customers can purchase tickets, board, disembark and wait for their bus.”

In a statement to Scene, City Hall stressed that Barons and Greyhound had spent nine months looking for a more ideal location than the aging Art Deco building at 1145 Chester Avenue, where buses have arrived and departed since the late 1940s.

While the spokesperson did not say exactly where they would be, he said the city would likely work with the RTA to select specific curbs where incoming buses would stop. Otherwise, travelers would have to take a 25-minute ride on the Red Line to Tower City Center. (And pay $2.50 per ticket.)

“We believe that access to intercity bus service in the city center is critical,” City Hall said in a statement, “as the majority of our public transit network takes people to the heart of our city.”

Regardless, the abolition will create headaches for those who transfer to RTA services and for the passengers who have brought revenue to downtown hotels and restaurants.

And a general annoyance for travelers who are used to arriving in the city center, and not miles away.

“It’s like an inconvenience,” Tracy, 41, of Pittsburgh, told Scene in the Greyhound lobby in April as she waited for the bus home. “I’ll be honest with you, I’ll probably start taking the (Amtrak) again.”

Indeed, given discussions about the possible relocation of the Amtrak station downtown—recent plans for the waterfront call for it to be demolished—or the distant hope of a station at Tower City Center for the prestigious rail line that would connect Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus, keeping an interstate bus hub downtown would be contrary to a national trend.

In cities like Chicago and Cincinnati, Greyhound lines are being relocated to the suburbs while Art Deco buildings await the wrecking ball or construction plans.

And if all goes according to plan, that will also be the fate of the Greyhound building itself. In April, Playhouse Square CEO Craig Hassall announced plans to transform the square into a building that would highlight the growing theater district, most likely with a nostalgic restaurant, shops and apartments.

“We are committed to respecting the historic integrity of the building,” a Playhouse Square spokesperson told Scene at the time, “and we will work with the City of Cleveland and Greyhound to ensure the transition to Greyhound’s new base of operations occurs on a timeline that is acceptable to all parties.”

Barons Bus has not yet publicly confirmed a groundbreaking date for its new station 12 miles southwest of downtown. An agreement between Barons and RTA is “currently under review,” the RTA spokesman said.

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