Now that the Madison Common Council has given the go-ahead for a mixed-use residential development where the Badger Bus Depot currently sits on Bedford Street, where will Greyhound Bus drop off and pick up passengers after Aug. 31?
At least in the short term, Badger Coaches plans on dropping off and picking up customers at the UW Memorial Union, which it says most of its customers prefer to use. It will also use the Kelley's Market on West Washington Avenue.
"The Memorial Union becomes a de facto bus depot, which nobody wants," says Ald. Shiva Bidar-Sielaff. "Short term, we're in an unfortunate situation where there really aren't any good solutions."
Keith Pollack of the city's traffic engineering department says he met with a Greyhound representative on the issue, but "he really didn't have all that much to say, to be honest with you."
Abby Wambaugh, a Greyhound spokeswoman, didn't have all that much to say either: "We are in the early process of looking" for a drop-off location. Greyhound hopes to find a business at which to load and unload - preferably a business that is open during scheduled stops.
Downtown Ald. Mike Verveer hopes a downtown transfer station will be built, solving the problem: "If we're going to have downtown rail, we need efficient connections."
