Greyhound bus station finds new location in Columbus. Here’s what to know
.JPG "The Greyhound bus station in Columbus has moved from 818 Veterans Parkway to inside the Sunoco gas station at 4108 St. Marys Road.")
The only bus station in Columbus with routes traveling out of town has moved, and some customers are having a tough time finding it.
Greyhound has closed the downtown terminal at 818 Veterans Parkway and now serves customers from a corner inside a Sunoco gas station at 4108 St. Marys Road in south Columbus.
Lisa Sanders Foxworth summarized the problem in a Facebook post Monday on the Columbus GA Concerned Citizens Forum.
“I took the greyhound last Sunday to Tennessee and I didn’t know it moved and had to rush to find it so I didn’t miss my bus,” she wrote. “When I googled it, didn’t show up as moved. I went in the family dollar and found out.”
The voice recording on the phone number listed for the station, 706-323-5417, also doesn’t notify customers about the move, and no sign at the previous location directs customers to the new one. Greyhound’s website, however, does list the address of the new location.
Greyhound spokeswoman Crystal Booker told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email Wednesday that the company is working on updating its location information. She also explained the rationale for the move.
“The volume of passenger travel from Columbus no longer requires a terminal as large as our previous location on Veterans Parkway,” she said. “The business had long desired to relocate to the local transit center to ease accessibility for customers, however, this request was not approved by local decision makers.”
Columbus city manager Isaiah Hugley told the L-E that negotiations with Greyhound to move its terminal to the Metra station broke down over sharing expenses, such as security and utilities. But he added that the Columbus Consolidated Government is open to further talks.
Booker noted it’s not unusual for Greyhound to have an nontraditional terminal.
“Greyhound has many stops across its network in convenient locations such as gas stations, restaurants and community landmarks,” she said. “Many of these locations offer Greyhound customers the ability to access convenience goods as well as receive extended hours of operation. Depending on the needs of a community and the volume of customers in a particular area, Greyhound may adjust its locations to this model as seen in Columbus.”
Asked for passenger statistics, Booker said, “Due to competitive reasons, we do not provide this type of customer data.”
The former station, a 53-year-old brick building comprising 8,989 square feet on 0.97 acres, is listed for sale on LoopNet.com for $499,000.
“The property is ideal for an adaptive use or redevelopment due to the growth that Columbus continues to experience in the Uptown area,” the listing says.
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
