It’s time for Philly to build a proper bus station. Here are six possible locations. (2024)

It hasn’t even been a full year since Greyhound left its Filbert Street terminal and we’re already in round three of Philadelphia’s musical bus stations.

What are the odds the city can get it right this time?

The year of bureaucratic blunders began last July when the Streets Department granted Greyhound permission to move from a full-service station to the sidewalk between Sixth and Seventh on Market Street — a slim strip of public space with no seating, no restrooms, and no shade.

So much chaos ensued that the city was forced to relocate the bus carrier after only four months. The new pickup spot at Second and Spring Garden proved just as shambolic. Now the city is contemplating a third move, possibly to the “Welcome Garage” at Second and Sansom in Old City, a neighborhood known for its narrow Colonial-era streets.

Hoping to learn more about the city’s plans, I sat down (virtually) with the two city officials overseeing the search for a more dignified and functional bus terminal: Deputy Managing Director Michael Carroll, who runs the Office of Transportation and Systems Infrastructure, and John Mondlak, the interim director of Planning and Development.

The first thing Mondlak told me was “we recognize that we need to have a better experience for our residents and our visitors.”

That’s good to hear because Philadelphia, like many American cities, has long undervalued the importance of its intercity buses. While SEPTA, Amtrak, Philadelphia airport and the area interstates all receive government funding, long-distance bus service is privately run and operates with virtually no public subsidies, even though it serves a much poorer population. I never ceased to be amazed at the extreme contrast between the dismal, bunker-like space at Greyhound’s rented Filbert Street terminal and Amtrak’s soaring waiting room at Gray 30th Street Station.

After the federal government deregulated the bus industry in 1982, some carriers stopped using the bus station and began picking up customers at sidewalk stops. The general lack of respect for this low-cost bus service may explain why the Streets Department felt it could dump Greyhound’s operation on Market Street with no amenities for travelers.

Carroll and Mondlak told me that the city now sees intercity buses as a crucial part of Philadelphia’s transportation network, as important as trains, planes and highways. Besides ensuring that residents have access to an affordable form of long-distance transportation, they believe that intercity bus service also supports Philadelphia’s vital hospitality industry.

With Philadelphia preparing to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday in 2026 — and play host to soccer’s World Cup, basketball’s March Madness and baseball’s All-Star game — solving the bus station problem has taken on a new urgency. No one wants a scrum of ride-hail drivers parked in the Spring Garden bike lane to be the first thing bus travelers see when they arrive in Philadelphia.

Yet finding the right location will be no easy task. As the past year’s twin debacles have demonstrated, a sidewalk location is unacceptable. The new bus station must be able to provide its customers with a dignified, climate-controlled waiting room equipped with restrooms, seating, and a ticket counter.

To minimize the amount of time buses spend on city streets, the terminal should be located as close as possible to highways and bridge ramps. At the same time, the station also needs to be an easy walk to a major transit hub, ideally less than two blocks, says Joseph P. Schwieterman, a DePaul University professor and the nation’s premier expert on intercity bus travel.

While the bus depot could be housed in an existing parking garage or surface lot, the site has to be big enough to handle at least 50 departures a day by Greyhound and its partners, FlixBus and Peter Pan. The site must also have convenient, off-street parking for people doing pickups and drop-offs, so city streets don’t become clogged by waiting cars.

Ideally, Carroll and Mondlak would like to identify a location for a permanent, full-service bus terminal by early fall. But since the odds of that happening are slim, they are also looking for a site that can serve as a new interim station while the search continues.

Whatever they come up with, Carroll promised the city will hold public meetings to solicit neighborhood feedback. They will also have to negotiate a contract with the owner, a process that could take months. Then there’s the matter of finding funds to pay for improvements. Even an interim station could cost a substantial sum.

Right now, the Old City garage, located next to Welcome Park, appears to be the leading candidate, at least as an interim station. Opened in 1982, the garage has 13 bays for bus parking, as well as an empty retail space equipped with restrooms that could be converted to a waiting area.

But it fails to meet several essential criteria: It’s more than a mile from the highway and bridge ramps. There is no convenient off-street parking for pickups and drop-offs. On top of that, the National Park Service owns the garage, and would have to determine whether a bus station would harm Independence National Historic Park.

Carroll and Mondlak stressed during our conversation that nothing has been decided and that several other sites are still being evaluated. To avoid another misstep, Carroll said Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has “empowered” them to take their time before settling on a new site.

So what are the possible sites besides the Old City garage? Since Carroll and Mondlak declined to share their short list with me, I decided to create my own.

After seeking input from community leaders and experts, and visiting several sites, I was quickly able to identify six possible locations for a permanent bus station. I’ve ranked them on a scale of one to five for amenities, proximity to highways and transit, traffic impact and accessibility.

Ever since Amtrak, the city and area stakeholders completed a master plan for the emerging neighborhood around the station, the Arch Street parking deck on the north side of the station has been the presumed site for a city bus station. Carroll, who participated in that 2016 planning study, said the existing I-76 and I-676 ramps would provide easy access to the site. Because Amtrak, regional rail, city buses and the Market-Frankford Line all converge around 30th Street, the site is the most intermodal location in the city. But the project would be expensive and require federal and state funds, as well as cooperation from Amtrak, which owns the deck.

After the city moved the Megabus stop from its former location on Arch Street, it briefly studied the possibility of creating a bus station in the basem*nt of the Cira garage, which was built by Brandywine Realty Trust to serve the Internal Revenue Service’s Philadelphia office. Few Philadelphians know that a spooky, underground street grid exists along the Schuylkill waterfront, between the former post office and the train station. Buses could access that underground area the same way postal trucks once did, via a ramp that descends to Lower 30th Street. Bus travelers would be able to access the below-grade area from the Cira garage elevator at street level on 30th Street. Like the Amtrak deck, the site would require significant investment in new plumbing and lighting to create a decent public environment. But both Washington, D.C., and Raleigh, N.C., have successfully transformed similar garages into pleasant bus stations.

Owned by the Parkway Corp., this large surface parking lot is just a short hop from the ramps to I-676, which makes it extremely convenient to I-76 and the Ben Franklin Bridge. Arriving buses would travel briefly along Vine Street before turning onto 12th to enter the lot. Since they can exit directly onto Vine, the impact on neighborhood streets would be minimal. According to calculations prepared by Parkway’s president Robert Zuritsky, Greyhound could save $1 million in fuel costs by moving to the site. The easy highway access would also reduce travel delays caused by traffic congestion. But the site does sit on the edge of Chinatown and would affect the neighborhood. Jefferson Station is two blocks south. A full-service waiting room would also have to be constructed.

Since the police moved their headquarters to the former Inquirer tower on Broad Street, the city has been looking for a new use for this important midcentury building, which includes a parking lot on the south side. While the lot is much smaller than the one at 12th and Race, many believe it has room for multiple bus bays. The ground floor of the double-barreled building could be converted into a waiting room. Yet using this large, publicly owned site for a bus station seems like a waste of valuable real estate. If the Roundhouse site and an adjacent privately owned parking lot were redeveloped with housing and retail, it could help transform the troubled East Market area.

When this garage was built in the early 1990s — just as I-676 was being completed — planners hoped it would divert commuters coming off the highway at 15th Street and thereby “intercept” traffic before it reached Center City. They also expected a hotel and office tower would be built on the two surface lots that flank the structure. Those lots were never developed, which is why this site is worth looking at for a bus station. Buses would spend almost no time on city streets. But it’s not clear that the divided parcels are big enough to accommodate bus parking, a station building, and parking for pickups and drop-offs. Unfortunately, the clearance on the garage entrances is too low for buses.

As described earlier, this garage was built for buses and has plenty of space for a proper waiting room. But it’s relatively far from the highway, and congestion on Second Street could be a problem. Meanwhile, buses exiting onto Front Street would run smack into the staging area for the construction of an 11.5 acre park connecting Old City to Penn’s Landing. Plus, the nearest multimodal transit, Jefferson Station, is a hike.

Any of these sites could work as a short-term solution. But, as Carroll observed, the last thing Philadelphia wants is for its third temporary bus station “to be forever.” It’s time to design a permanent transportation center that dignifies and encourages intercity bus travel, one that is truly worthy of Philadelphia and its citizens.