City Will Put on Dog for Interstate Bus Travelers

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City officials hope that rolling out the welcome mat for Greyhound passengers next week could lead to a future relationship with the interstate bus line.

Though both sides --- in response to questions from Tube City Almanac --- acknowledge that's a long shot, City Administrator Dennis Pittman says McKeesport will do whatever it can to make the temporary terminal run smoothly. (* Ed.: See note at end of story.)

"They use Monroeville as a stop --- we've got a Penn State campus here," he says. "It would make sense to me that we could provide this kind of stop, not for all of the Pittsburgh-bound buses, but for some buses. And we would be thrilled to demonstrate that once this takes place."

The city and a Greyhound spokesman were asked by Tube City Almanac about the viability of connecting the region to the national bus line's system.*

. . .

Federal security personnel are taking over Pittsburgh's Greyhound station on Liberty Avenue during the G-20 summit of world leaders, to be held at the nearby David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

That forced Greyhound to find a temporary terminal for passengers arriving, departing or changing buses in Pittsburgh, says Tim Stokes, the line's manager of media relations.

"We've had situations before where we've had to accommodate our passengers throughout a week or a day," he says, including special events like the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Greyhound will provide connecting transportation for passengers who need to get to downtown Pittsburgh, Stokes says.

According to the company's current timetables, about two dozen Greyhound routes serve Pittsburgh daily, connecting to Erie, Harrisburg, Washington, Chicago, St. Louis and intermediate points such as State College, Pa., and Dayton, Ohio.

. . .

The bus terminal on Lysle Boulevard opened in the early 1980s as a multi-modal center for Port Authority buses and commuter trains as well as Amtrak's Washington-Chicago Capitol Limited.

With the elimination of the PATrain in 1989 and the subsequent deletion of the city stop by the Capitol, the terminal has been steadily downgraded. The waiting room and restrooms are now closed most of the time and the benches have been removed.

That's requiring Greyhound to bring a modular waiting room, snack bar and restrooms to the terminal.

. . .

The arrangement will continue from late Tuesday night until early Saturday morning.

Buses waiting on layovers will park on a city-owned lot in the 500 block of Fifth Avenue, Pittman says, while McKeesport police will patrol the terminal to provide security and traffic control.

Greyhound will reimburse the city for police time, he says.

"To the extent that folks might want to grab a sandwich, breakfast or lunch, Uncle Bub's and Coney Island are right across the street, and Eat 'n Park is nearby," Pittman says. "We would hope that they might try to utilize some of the restaurants in town."

. . .

The temporary arrangement represents an opportunity to put the city on Greyhound's radar screen, he says.

FirstGroup, a publicly traded company based in Scotland, has owned Greyhound Lines since 2007, after purchasing Laidlaw International. The bus line serves 3,700 communities --- but none at all anywhere in the Mon Valley.

Passengers here who want to ride Greyhound must catch their buses in Monroeville, Pittsburgh or Greensburg.

"If this is successful as 'the' Greyhound stop for the region, then I think it may behoove us to (lobby) for this to be an intermediate stop on the Greyhound schedule," Pittman says.

. . .

The decision to add a new stop or move a bus route isn't taken lightly, Stokes says. Demographics, community interest and demand play a role, he says.

"We also look through the data to see if it would be feasible to provide service for that area," Stokes says. "It's a combination of things."

There are no present plans to connect the city to the national Greyhound map, he says, but the system is open to the discussion.

. . .

Pittman says the Lysle Boulevard terminal --- if upgraded --- would be an ideal location for a stop.

"We wouldn't want to reinvent the wheel," he says. "We'd want to coordinate it with PAT. If Greyhound came here, the express buses to Pittsburgh and the feeder buses to the other surrounding communities are already there."

In the meantime, Pittman says, the city just plans to make next week "as uneventful as possible."

"But if they think there's any future possibility of using McKeesport as a partner, I think that would be great," he says.

* Editor's Note --- Edited after publication to clarify that Pittman and Stokes were responding to questions from Tube City Almanac. --- Jason

Your Comments are Welcome!

I was just at the Monroeville Mall on Sunday of this week and the Grayhound Terminal was closed, as in vacated permanently by Grayhound. There were no postings of it moving to another location. I wonder if this would be a good time for someone in the Mon-Valley to push for a stop in the Mon-Valley?
Derrick P - September 16, 2009

Dosen’t anyone see trouble with this??
I mean there are going to be protesters arriving on these busses and just depositing them at our door step with no way to Pittsburgh since PAT has so limited runs from Mckeesport to the great Jewel of the county Seat.
I cannot beleive that our elected officals did not question this at all
And Dennis must be living in Fantasy Land to even suggest that there are “resturants” in town, about the only one that can even be considered a“resturant” it seems like the ( the elected and non-elected) city officals are trying to run out by building a bridge overtop of their building, (I know it’s through the parking lot before someone corrects me) for as long as it’s going to distrupt entry to that business they should just put the ramp right through the front door.
maybe we can say goodbye to greyhound and Eat“N“Park atthe same time.
I just hope that there’s no trouble from the protesters cause’ the Burgh never has given Mckeesport or any other commuunity anything of value ever.
If they want to give us something how about a stadium or a casino something that’s going to make money and not trouble…..but that’s not going to happen
I hope I’m wrong but I think that this is just inviting even more trouble into our fair city….
Cox's Jimmy - September 17, 2009

Jimmy:

I don’t mean to take your complaints lightly, but what are protesters going to protest in Downtown McKeesport? The lack of economic elitism? The lack of capitalism?

If anything, McKeesport is an example of what happens after to post-industrial economies as a result of globalization.

Also, as the Greyhound spokesman mentioned — and as I quoted him as saying — there will be connecting service (shuttle buses, I’m assuming) to downtown Pittsburgh. These folks are not going to be wandering around aimlessly.

Also also, on Lysle Boulevard there’s a Subway, a Pizza Hut express and a KFC, and while their merit can be debated, they are “restaurants,” yes?
Webmaster - September 17, 2009

Derrick:

As of this morning, Greyhound is still saying their stop is at 254 Monroeville Mall Blvd., but Trailways says the stop has moved to 183 Fox Road, between Mosside Boulevard and Miracle Mile shopping center.
Webmaster - September 17, 2009

Jason

I agree with you, it is correct there is nothing to protest in McKeesport, but what I meant by the Protesters showing up is that they are going to be Boarding Greyhound buses from the four corners of the U.S. coming to Pittsburgh to protest and are going to end up being dropped off in McKeesport, and I won’t hold my breath that there will be plenty connecting shuttle buses to the ‘Burgh, and as for them aimlessly roaming around I guess your right again they can just join in with the other that are aimlessly roaming around.
And without being wise…..when was the last time you actually sat down and ate in town? The last time I did in Subway I was bothered for money, and it wasn’t to pay for my food
Cox's Jimmy - September 17, 2009

You know I just thought about it, if there’s all these connecting busses going to Pittsburgh from McKeesport with the passengers riding Greyhound, why didn’t they just set up the Greyhound Station in Pittsburgh where the Fleet of shuttles will terminate???
things that make you go Hmmmmmmmm
Cox's Jimmy - September 17, 2009

Say what you want about these supposedly scary “protesters” but their money spends just like everyone else’s. Beggars can’t be choosers.
John - September 17, 2009

> And without being wise … when was the last time you actually sat down
> and ate in town?

About a week ago, at Eat ‘n Park ‘n Flyover Ramp, with the mother of me.

About a week before that, I had breakfast at McKees Cafe in the Palisades.

And until they gave up, I was a semi-regular (maybe once a month) at The Enzone. Great food, great atmosphere, terrible location.
Webmaster - September 17, 2009

P.S.: And you’re not being wise at all. You have a right to demand that I practice what I preach.

For the record, as most people here know, I do not live within the city limits —- I live across the river. It’s where I found a house that had what I wanted in my price range.

It was nothing against living in McKeesport —- I also looked at houses in Homestead, Munhall and Duquesne, which are not exactly in any better shape than the city.
Webmaster - September 17, 2009

Jason, not really for post, what I meant about not being wise is that You run a good site and and i didn’t want to come off as an A-hole if i did i’m sorry and thanks again for the good FREE work that you do on this website
Jim
Cox's Jimmy - September 17, 2009

Jim —- I didn’t take it that way at all! But thanks for the atta-boy.

I’ve been meaning to ask … are you THE Cox’s Jimmy?
Webmaster - September 17, 2009

Yea,,,,,,
Coxs's Jimmy - September 17, 2009

It’s a weird world we live in, ain’t it? :D
Webmaster - September 17, 2009

I looked at the routes Greyhound brings through Pittsburgh now.

178 – Pittsburgh to Erie via Zelie and Meadville
190 – Harrisburg to Pittsburgh State College, Johnstown, Greensburg and Monroeville
200 – DC to Chicago via Hagerstown, Monroeville, Pittsburgh and Youngyown.
202 – New York to St. Louis via Harrisburg, Monroeville, Pittsburgh and Wheeling.

Now get out a map and look at where these routes run and you’ll see why Stokes is being so vague and why Pittman’s optimistic statements border on the ridiculous. The ONLY way any of these routes MIGHT even begin to look feasible would be if the Route 43 intiative was completed in full; that’d at least provide access to I-70 (wheeling) and I-79 (Youngstown).

But you’d still need a decent connector from 43 down to Lysle Blvd. At present, only the already clogged 837/Duquesne bridge and the dilapidated and circuitous Dravosburg Hill/Tenth Ward corridors are available.

I’m guessing that Greyhound’s coming here because the Lysle terminal is a sure thing for the easy movement of their big buses. The fact that they’re supplying a Modular terminal negates the viabilibty of the big structure that’s there now. Just another turn on the old Field of Dreams adage “if you build it, that don’t necessarily mean they’ll be coming” (see Stoke’s comments).

With the excellent industrial infrastructure we have at the old Tube Works site, with the excess of electrical grid resources we have since the mills drug up, an with the technologically savy workforce we still have in this area, what we need is ACCESS.
tim - September 17, 2009

Yes it is definatly a weird world that we live in, but the town has become much stranger since the “Cox’s Days” it is just depressing and hurts everytime one walks through the downtown area and can remember what once was, and I wasn’t even on this earth yet to experience and remember it in it’s real days of the 40’s and 50’s.

Being able to actually catch a bus into town that operated on a regular schedule where one didn’t have to wait hours for the next one to show up if at all, and then once getting off the bus actually having shops and stores to shop in and buy useful items, bumping into people that you knew and spent time to chat (in person) and had sit down restaurants ( such as Murphy’s upstairs) to sit down like civilized people to enjoy repast, ahhhh it all but a faded memory now

Catching the bus home near Danny Doughnuts and if you were good in Balsamo’s your mom would buy something in there and you’d get the free bag of “Holes”

You know it is very true that one can never really “Go home again”
Cox's Jimmy - September 18, 2009

Tim:

Mr. Pittman and Mr. Stokes were responding to questions I ASKED THEM about whether it would be feasible to add the Mon Valley to the Greyhound maps.

Both men have a firm grasp on reality; they were not being ridiculous or vague, they were just trying to answer my questions.

Maybe I am the one who is ridiculous —- I was looking for a new angle on the story.

But I am the one who raised these issues with both the city and Greyhound.
Webmaster - September 18, 2009

Yes, we all have great memories of downtown. It would be good to see a vibrant McKeesport again. I realize the ship has already sailed with the industrial site at the Tube City works, but I can’t help thinking that an awesome industrial site isn’t much good in a country with less and less industry every year. I still firmly believe that downtown’s future lies with all the terrific waterfront property.
Dan - September 18, 2009

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