Greyhound packs its bags
Bus line closes decades-old Ventura service
By Bill Lascher 03/06/2008
The dozens of people who arrived at Downtown Ventura’s Greyhound station with their bags packed and ready to go this weekend had a surprise in store: There was no
bus station.
Epic bus journeys and cheap cramped rides across America’s highways will no longer be an option for Ventura travelers, at least those who cannot find transportation to Oxnard.
Greyhound Bus Line surprised the city when it abandoned its decades-old facility on Thompson Boulevard in Downtown Ventura. By March 4, the small terminal was empty and plastered with “For Rent” signs, the characteristic red, white and blue Greyhound logo removed from a street-side sign.
Media representatives from Greyhound contacted by the Reporter were researching the decision to close the Ventura station but were not able to provide answers by the paper’s March 4 deadline. The company’s Web site no longer lists Ventura as a stop. Greyhound’s closest locations are now in Oxnard and Santa Barbara. No one answered at Greyhound’s local phone number.
It may be that Greyhound’s owners are trimming costs. Firstgroup PLC, a Scottish company, secured ownership of Greyhound’s parent, Laidlaw, Inc., in 2007. The company is traded on the London Stock Exchange. On Dec. 28, 2007, Firstgroup’s stock traded at 808 pence ($16.06) per share. At the close of trading March 4 it traded at 566.5 ($11.26) pence.
Khosro Zardouz, the property’s landlord, doesn’t yet know what will take Greyhound’s place at the corner from which Greyhound has ferried travelers up and down the California Coast for 40 years. He’s just trying to rent it out as soon as he can to prevent yet another abandoned location on the once busy thoroughfare from remaining empty.
All he knew for certain about Greyhound’s departure was that the company held a month to month lease since he bought the property in 1998, and that when the bus line told him it wanted out of the lease it planned its last run from Ventura for Feb. 23.
“I guess there wasn’t enough business in the city of Ventura,” Zardouz said. “They’re not that big out here.”
There was, however, enough potential business that Zardouz had to break the news of Greyhound’s cancellation of its Ventura service to many riders. He said at least 20 to 30 people showed up at the station over the past weekend while he was cleaning the site up and preparing it for prospective renters.
“There were a lot of people who came in who were getting angry,” he said. “They didn’t understand why they moved out. I saw people coming with their suitcases to buy their ticket. There’s nothing I can do. It’s out of my hands. It’s a big company and that’s their decision.”
City officials in Ventura weren’t notified of Greyhound’s departure, Traffic and Transportation Engineer Tom Mericle said. About four years ago Greyhound sent him a letter that it was evaluating its performance, but he hasn’t heard anything since then.
Greyhound’s departure from Ventura comes at a time when the city is trying to capitalize on its identity as a tourist destination. While the company’s customers are less likely to be the higher-income individuals brought to the city by Amtrak trains or their own cars, any loss of potential visitors is seen in a negative light.
“At this point reducing transportation options, be it bus or rail, given the nature of how much we are continuing to move as a county, is probably not the best direction to go,” said Darren Kettle, the executive director of the Ventura County Transportation Commission. Kettle couldn’t comment in depth on Greyhound’s decision, as it is a private operator not overseen by his commission, and he didn’t know the details of the company’s decision to close its Ventura service. Kettle did recognize that the region relies upon multiple choices for transportation.
“The more transportation options we have for residents and tourism is something we want to continue to encourage,” Kettle said.
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT