The City of Richmond’s land use, housing and transportation committee recommended Tuesday the approval of a license agreement requested by Greyhound that would use the Main Street Station Plaza as a bus terminal. It ensures the city of Richmond is still accessible by those who use the bus service for interstate bus service.
The agreement — which would put the city’s Greyhound bus stop just west of the rail trestle and on the south of Main Street — is about a year and a half in the works, as Greyhound approached the city after it became apparent the land where the current bus terminal is located on Arthur Ashe Blvd. would be developed by Twin Lakes Holdings into multi-family housing.
City officials say the primary challenge Greyhound faced was reworking its current bus service so that bus transfers that previously occurred in Richmond would now happen at Greyhound stations in Raleigh, N.C. and Norfolk.
That means that the buses that roll through the city of Richmond will almost all originate here or have their final destination here. Other bus services like Megabus have used the plaza for eight years already, and this would add Greyhound to the list of services using the stop, according to Dironna Moore Clarke, deputy director of the Department of Public Works.
There are 14 buses entering and leaving Richmond every day and each bus can hold up to 55 passengers, according to Greyhound. Under the license agreement, the city would make about $14,000 a year on the deal.
Questions that surfaced during the meeting centered mostly on traffic.
A concern raised by 1st District Councilor Andreas Addison, is that buses getting onto Broad Street “have to get back on the highway from Broad St.” That, he explained, “is going to take them through a four-way intersection stop that … is backed up frequently.”
Moore Clarke replied that there shouldn’t be severe issues, as the buses have been rolling through that spot for the last two months. In an interview with VPM News she also pointed out that this is likely a midterm solution, and that she hopes the city would find a permanent bus terminal.
She also said that under the current license arrangement, Greyhound passengers are only allowed inside Main Street Station proper for 30 minutes.
Twin Lakes Holdings didn’t return a request for comment. Mayor Levar Stoney declined to comment through a spokesperson.
Richmond City Council is expected to vote on the license agreement Monday.
