How Disinvestment and Hedge Funds Are Dismantling the US Intercity Bus System

An article in Daily Kos highlights the impact that recent closures of intercity bus terminals have on the riders who rely on buses. “Bus lines provide a real, tangible benefit to millions of people and it's by far the most cost-effective way to travel, as flights are expensive and American trains provide limited service.”

The contempt for buses was apparent during the pandemic, when the government rescued commercial airlines with over $60 billion. Yet buses, which make 600 million passenger trips per year and employ over 100,000 people, received $100 million—or just 16% of what the airlines were given.

Yet terminals around the country have been shuttered and bought up by hedge funds for redevelopment — “In 2022, Twenty Lake Holdings bought 33 Greyhound stations in prime locations for only $140 million” — leaving bus riders with no access to services like shelter, ticket counters, or bathrooms and forcing passengers to wait for buses on sidewalks and in parking lots. “Curbside bus service can clog up city streets with passengers and their luggage, snarl traffic, increase pollution, and frustrate local business owners.”

Meanwhile, the 37,000-square-foot former bus terminal in downtown Cleveland will be replaced with an apartment building and nightclub. According to real estate professor Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, “it is clear what is happening here: an important piece of transit infrastructure is being sacrificed in the name of higher profits.”