For Greyhound’s front-line bus agent Loretta Hamilton, a Regional Transportation District executive decision this month to boot her company from Union Station raises the question of whether Denver wants to push away low-income and vulnerable people from public view.
Each day she faces a parade of travelers, including a Viking rapper last week, who often must wait for hours at Union Station, sometimes begging for their bus fare so they can leave. “Where are these people going to go?” she said.
RTD has informed Greyhound that it will terminate Greyhound’s five-year contract to use Union Station after it expires on Aug. 31 next year, citing rider safety and security concerns.
Greyhound officials this week asked RTD to reconsider or to provide “a suitable alternative,” warning that, otherwise, private intercity bus service “not only in metro Denver but the entire Rocky Mountain region” will be at risk, Greyhound spokeswoman Karina Frayter said in an email.
RTD executives weren’t made available to discuss their decision to boot Greyhound, first reported by Denverite.
“In 2023, RTD redoubled its efforts to create a welcoming transit environment for all bus and rail customers, with a specific focus on bolstering security at Denver Union Station,” agency spokeswoman Pauline Haberman said in an emailed response to questions.
Greyhound has been paying RTD $600,000 a year to use an underground concourse at Union Station since 2020 after bus executives sold Greyhound’s downtown station near the intersection of 19th and Curtis streets for $38 million.
Launched by Swedish immigrants in 1914, Greyhound runs 1,700 buses with 230 stations and 1,700 destinations — North America’s largest intercity bus service.
“The potential discontinuation of intercity bus services would pose significant challenges, particularly for vulnerable communities — those with lower incomes, retirees, people with disabilities, and people without cars,” Frayter said. “RTD’s decision puts equitable and affordable intercity transportation at risk,” she said, questioning RTD’s fairness and faulting RTD for not providing requested specifics around their concerns.
“We are waiting to receive the specific details from the agency so we can immediately address their concerns. We’ve also expressed willingness to explore other locations that meet travelers’ needs by providing access to shelter, amenities, and other public transportation. RTD has not offered any suggestions so far. As Union Station is a federally funded facility, we have the right under federal law to reasonable access. It’s important for us to understand how we can best resolve this situation with RTD to ensure that equity and affordability of transportation options in Denver are maintained.”
Haberman said that Greyhound has made patrolling and securing the bus concourse difficult.
“Over the past four years, on multiple occasions, Greyhound has abandoned buses and its customers in the bus concourse overnight. Greyhound’s operations also necessitate long waits for transferring passengers, which causes crowding and loitering around Greyhound gates in the concourse,” she said.
RTD’s executives remain “actively engaged” with Greyhound’s leadership to answer their questions and develop transition plans, Haberman said.
A man sleeps at an RTD bus stop area of Union Station in Denver on Aug. 3, 2022. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)
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“RTD recognizes that Greyhound has made good faith efforts to address many of the agency’s concerns related to personal safety and security challenges,” she said, “but it is in RTD’s best interest not to renew the agreement.”
That worries Hamilton, who recalls the time she saw a man from Ecuador crouched with a baby outside Union Station in the rain, unable to buy a ticket to New York. Hamilton, 73, who previously ran a beauty salon for 28 years, took them to her house. “I fried him some potatoes and eggs, got him a bubble bath and a bed,” then drove them the next morning to immigration authorities who lined up a ticket, she said.
“Some of these people are in really bad shape. They need a bus ride. They need tickets,” Hamilton said.
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