Intercity Buses Face Station Closures and Labor Shortage

Intercity bus riders are seeing a loss of dedicated bus stations and amenities. As Dan Zukowski explains in Smart Cities Dive, “After FlixMobility acquired Greyhound in October 2021, Greyhound’s former owner, FirstGroup, began selling the bus company’s real estate holdings, including its privately owned bus stations.”

Now, with many former Greyhound stations closing, bus passengers often have to wait on public sidewalks without amenities like public restrooms or air-conditioned waiting rooms. According to Joe Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University, “You have lots of disadvantaged populations that really suffer when indoor waiting rooms are lost, or you end up [with stops] at convenience stores and hours are limited.”

Some cities provide access to existing facilities, such as Union Station in downtown Los Angeles, but, according to an annual report on the intercity bus industry from the Chaddick Institute, “The problems this creates have yet to attract much attention from local policymakers, some of whom have done little to help travelers on intercity buses in the past.”

The report warns that the closures, along with an ongoing operator shortage,  will prevent bus companies from improving services and bringing ridership back up to pre-pandemic levels. It also predicts a rise in premium services such as onboard meals and lie-flat beds to attract a wider variety of passengers.