The bus stops here -- soon for the last time

Riders want 'faster trips and fewer stops,' a company spokeswoman says.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Because of a corporate streamlining decision, Greyhound buses will stop in this city for the last time Oct. 29, ending more than 50 years of service here.
"I'm going to miss the people. Ninety-eight percent of them were very nice," said Larry Southwick, operator of the Greyhound station at 408 E. Market St. since Jan. 1, 2002.
Southwick said eliminating the Warren stop and terminal will inconvenience local residents because they'll have to drive or take a taxi or Western Reserve Transit Authority bus to use Greyhound service in Youngstown, the nearest available Greyhound stop.
WRTA buses and Greyhound use Federal Station in downtown Youngstown as a terminal, but WRTA doesn't operate on Sundays and major holidays. And the Youngstown-based WRTA might cancel its Warren service if one or both of the levies it has on the Nov. 8 ballot fails, Southwick said Thursday.
Further, he said, a one-way taxi ride from Warren to Youngstown typically costs $20 to $25.
"The people are going to suffer that want to get out to see their loved ones and families for their holidays and family reunions, weddings and so forth," Southwick said.
The routine
Greyhound buses stop four times daily, twice eastbound and twice westbound, in Warren, and Lakefront Trailways makes one daily stop in each direction in Warren. Southwick said he doubts Lakefront service will continue in Warren without Greyhound. Southwick said he would need to have at least three buses a day stop at his terminal to stay in business.
Southwick, a private contractor who sells tickets and handles package express for Greyhound, estimated 300 to 500 people a month board or exit from a Greyhound bus in Warren.
Anna Folmnsbee, a Greyhound spokeswoman, said Warren is among 42 stops Greyhound is discontinuing Oct. 29 in eight states as part of a restructuring of its route network that began in August 2004.
Other affected cities
Besides Warren, stops in Canton and Steubenville, Ohio, and New Wilmington, Pa., are among those in medium-size and small communities that are being discontinued Oct. 29.
The discontinuation of the stops is part of an effort "to make Greyhound consistently profitable" and to better meet the needs of the majority of passengers, Folmnsbee said.
Three-fourths of Greyhound passengers travel between urban areas that are less than 450 miles apart, she said. In surveys, passengers have told Greyhound they want "faster trips and fewer stops," she said. The discontinuation of stops is not related to recent increases in fuel prices, she added.
The stops being discontinued at the end of this month are in addition to about 850 that have already been discontinued in the restructuring process. After Oct. 29, Greyhound will continue to stop in about 1,660 communities nationwide, she said.
"I thought I was going to die with Greyhound, but I guess not," said Southwick, who displays on a terminal shelf historical models of Greyhound buses going back to the 1930s.
Southwick, sole proprietor of the Greyhound terminal here, said he'll go from part- to full-time status in his other job as an ambulance dispatcher after the terminal closes.