Greyhound Bus will not yet leave its West Loop station, its parent company FlixBus announced Tuesday.
The bus operator said it was finalizing a lease extension with the new property owner that would allow it to continue operating buses at 630 W. Harrison St. after Sunday, when its lease was set to end.
“Our team is finalizing a monthly lease extension with Twenty Lake [Holdings]and our operations will continue without interruption,” a FlixBus spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
“This is a temporary solution, and we remain actively engaged with the city and other stakeholders to secure a long-term home for intercity bus service in Chicago,” the statement said.
The spokesperson said the lease extension had not yet been signed and could not share more details about the potential deal.
Twenty Lake Holdings and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For more than a year, FlixBus has struggled to determine where its buses would stop after its lease at its longtime station ends.
The company purchased Greyhound Bus in 2021 but did not purchase the stations. In recent months, Greyhound has lost its stations across the United States as its leases expire, causing chaos and confusion for passengers and neighbors at the new bus stops without indoor shelter. In many cities, Greyhound has resorted to picking up and dropping off passengers at curbsides.
Chicago city leaders, trying to avoid the same fate here, have been in talks with FlixBus for months to find a suitable new location for Greyhound.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office, in a statement Tuesday, said it was working closely with Twenty Lake and Greyhound on a long-term solution. The “City of Chicago is ensuring that we are helpful in the short and long term, while remaining committed to developing a sustainable and viable solution that will outlast this temporary solution.”
Johnson’s office said in August that he preferred Greyhound move to the sidewalk outside Chicago’s Union Station. But station owner Amtrak resisted that option, saying it would increase traffic and security costs. The rail operator suggested other locations near the Metra stations at Ogilvie and La Salle streets.
Amtrak welcomed the potential lease extension.
“That’s what we asked for,” Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said. “We continue to offer our expertise on what intermodal stations look like for a more permanent solution.”
Local ald. Bill Conway (34th) said he was “relieved” that a temporary solution had been found.
A “shutdown this weekend would have stranded thousands of people, including many women traveling to Chicago for reproductive health care,” Conway said in an emailed statement. “I look forward to working together on a long-term solution to establish a permanent multimodal transportation hub for the region.” »
Last week, Conway sent a letter to the mayor suggesting the city allow Greyhound to operate out of the mostly unused asylum seeker landing zone. He wrote that the construction site on Avenue des Plaines, near Rue Polk, could constitute a temporary measure.
Joseph Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University, said the lease extension, if finalized, “would provide much-needed breathing room to resolve the complicated situation.”
Schwieterman said he hopes city leaders will move forward and reach an agreement. The city’s transportation department has sole authority to issue permits for intercity bus stops.
Schwieterman and other transit advocates have warned that losing a station with indoor accommodations for Greyhound would be a burden on the intercity bus system’s mostly low-income users. Bus transfers in Chicago would become dangerous during the winter months, advocates said.
“The stakes for Chicago’s transportation system are high,” Schwieterman said. “Bus lines are eager to see if Chicago can create a public bus station open to everyone.”
Transit advocates have urged the city to buy the Greyhound station or build a new one. The city said it had no money.
If Greyhound lost its station, Chicago would be the largest city in the Northern Hemisphere without a bus station with indoor accommodations, the Chaddick Institute reported last month.
