Public transit experts urged Chicago officials on Tuesday to prevent a traffic crisis if the downtown Greyhound bus station remains closed.
The lease on the building, which handles more than 500,000 passengers annually, expires at the end of September and there is no Plan B to accommodate the passengers, supporters said.
“You can’t just put someone on the street in January and say, ‘Wait here in the snow for three hours,'” said Joseph Schwieterman, a professor of transportation studies at DePaul University, in an online forum.
The event was attended by representatives from DePaul’s Chaddick Institute on Metropolitan Development, the Chicago City Council, Better Streets Chicago and FlixBus, whose parent company acquired Greyhound and operates countless routes from the terminal.
The Chaddick Institute released a report Tuesday finding that if a covered bus terminal is not found, Chicago would become the largest city in the Northern Hemisphere without an intercity bus terminal.
Officials said the station’s owner, Twenty Lake Holdings, plans to use the property for residential purposes. Twenty Lake Holdings did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
“We are running out of time. We are in a dire situation,” said Gilda Brewton, head of public affairs at FlixBus.
Built in 1989, the bus station handles arrivals and departures to cities such as Bloomingdale, Champaign, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Davenport, DeKalb, Des Moines, Green Bay, Louisville, Indianapolis, Normal, Rockford, Springfield, St. Louis and Valparaiso.
In addition to out-of-state users, many are from Chicago and its suburbs. They include low-income travelers, students, seniors and people who simply feel “uncomfortable” flying, experts say.
While some are tourists or looking for work or relatives, many come for specialized medical treatment. They include women from states where abortion is banned, activists say.
Passengers at the Greyhound bus terminal in Chicago, which is scheduled to close at the end of September.
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“Current figures show that the majority of passengers have household incomes of less than $50,000,” said Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute.
Transportation companies that use the station include Barons Bus, Flixbus, Greyhound and Trailways.
The loss of the station will lead to significant performance limitations, Schwieterman warned.
“If bus service to and from Chicago goes down, it will have a domino effect across the country,” said Rick Harnish, executive director of the High Speed Rail Alliance and one of the speakers at the forum.
Activists expressed dismay that no one – including the city of Chicago, other government organizations and planning agencies – intervened before the situation reached a critical point.
Short-term solutions include using Jackson Street at Union Station as a transit stop, although experts acknowledge the site is already overcrowded. Other proposed possibilities include the Ogilvie Transportation Center and the LaSalle Street Station.
City Councilman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa said the city will meet with Amtrak, the owner of Union Station, on Tuesday to discuss a short-term solution.
