Greyhound Bus won’t be leaving its West Loop station just yet, its parent company FlixBus announced Tuesday.
The bus operator said it is finalizing a lease extension with the new property owner that will allow it to continue operating buses at 630 W. Harrison St. after Sunday, when its lease was set to end.
“Our team is finalizing a month-to-month lease extension with Twenty Lake [Holdings], and our operations will continue without disruption,” a FlixBus spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
“This is a temporary solution, and we remain actively engaged with the city and other stakeholders to secure a long-term home for intercity bus service in Chicago,” the statement said.
The spokesperson said the lease extension had not yet been signed and could not share more details about the potential arrangement.
Twenty Lake Holdings and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For more than a year, FlixBus has struggled to figure out where its buses would stop after its lease ended at its long-time station.
The company bought Greyhound Bus in 2021 but did not buy the stations. Over the past several months, Greyhound has been losing its stations across the U.S. as its leases ended, causing chaos and confusion for passengers and neighbors of new bus stops without indoor shelter. In many cities, Greyhound has resorted to picking up and dropping off passengers at curbs.
City leaders in Chicago, trying to avoid the same fate here, have been in talks with FlixBus for months to find a suitable new location for Greyhound.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office, in a statement, said Tuesday it has been working closely with Twenty Lake and Greyhound on a long-term solution. The “city of Chicago is working to ensure that we are helpful in the short and long term but remain dedicated to developing a sustainable and viable solution that will outlast this temporary solution.”
Johnson’s office said in August it preferred Greyhound to move to the curb outside Chicago Union Station. But station owner Amtrak resisted that option, saying it would increase traffic and security costs. The train operator suggested other locations near Metra stations at Ogilvie and La Salle Street.
Amtrak praised the potential lease extension.
“This is what we asked for,” Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said. “We continue to offer our expertise in what intermodal stations look like for a more permanent solution.”
Local Ald. Bill Conway (34th) said he was “relieved” a temporary solution was found.
A “closure this weekend would have stranded thousands, including many women traveling to Chicago for reproductive healthcare,” Conway said in an emailed statement. “I look forward to working together on a long-term solution to establish a permanent multi-modal transportation hub for the region.”
Last week, Conway sent a letter to the mayor suggesting the city allow Greyhound to operate from the city’s mostly unused asylum-seeker landing zone. He wrote that the site on Des Plaines Avenue near Polk Street could be a temporary measure.
Joseph Schwieterman, director of DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development, said the lease extension, if finalized, “would provide some much-needed breathing room to sort out the complicated situation.”
Schwieterman said he hopes city leaders pick up the pace and work out a deal. The city’s Transportation Department has the sole authority to issue permits for inter-city bus stops.
Schwieterman and other transit advocates have warned that Greyhound losing a station with indoor accommodations would burden the intercity bus systems’ mostly low-income users. Transferring buses in Chicago would become dangerous during the winter months, advocates said.
“A lot is at stake for Chicago’s transportation system,” Schwieterman said. “Bus lines are eager to see if Chicago can create a public bus station that is open to all.”
Transit advocates have urged the city to buy the Greyhound station or build a new one. The city has said it doesn’t have the money.
If Greyhound loses its station, Chicago would be the largest city in the Northern Hemisphere without a bus station with indoor accommodations, the Chaddick Institute reported last month.