Downtown Greyhound stop
still rolling after half century
B\ Gres Hough
tmorald Reporter
The Kugene Greyhound bus
station is marking a half ten
tury of service this year at its
location on 'Iti7 Pearl St and
local officials report the firm
has retainmled from lean eco
nomic: times to end the 1980s
in the black.
"We're not getting rich, but
we're making a profit." said
lioii Bonds, a Greyhound sales
representative who helps man
age bus terminals in central
and southern Oregon.
Bonds credits two changes in
Greyhound ownership one
local and one national for
the turnaround, lie said locally
the terminal was aided when
purchased in 1986 by a group
of local Greyhound employees,
and nationally it was helped
when the company was pur
chased by current Chairman
Fred Curry in 1987.
"There was a sharp decline
in ridership for 15 years before
Curry took over." Bonds said.
"When airline tickets got
cheaper, and economy cars be
came popular, we were hit
hard. It was almost cheaper to
go cross-country on an airplane
than it was to go from state to
state on Greyhound
"The changing of the owner
ship has really turned things
around,” Bonds said. "Mr.
Curry has given us a blank
check to make sure all our ter
minals are clean.”
Bonds said that before the na
tional purchase, Greyhound
converted all company-run de
pots into locally run. indepen
dent contractors. A 10-member
contingent of local employees
submitted a proposal to Grey
hound to buy the terminal, and
is now one of only two groups
of former Greyhound workers
that run a local depot. Bonds
said. (The other is in Syracuse.
N.Y.)
"It was either do it or be out
of a job." said terminal manag
er Howard Lorimore, one of the
10 who took over the station
"I think (the move toward lo
cal ownership) was to get rid of
the unions in the terminals,"
Lorimore said. "A lot of union
members left after the changes
"(Greyhound) said it was
costing them too much (to run
the terminals)," he said. "It
they were putting 27 percent of
commissions into running the
places before, they're only pay
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ing about 10 percent now
Bonds '•aid the terminal |ust
about hit rot k liottom during a
198,1 -.trike. w hich look plat e
aftiT union employees were re
(|uirnd to take a JO percent pay
cut Non-union employees re
placed them, ami in many in
stant es riders and replacements
were taunted by angry pit ket
ers
"We lost quite a bit of busi
ness in freight then." Bonds
said, "but the drop in passen
gers wasn't so bad We were ac
tually quite fortunate it nev
er got as radical as it did in
Portland and Seattle."
Things have come quite a
way since then Depot officials
now look ahead with optimism
to an imminent remodeling of
the site, to be orchestrated by
Greyhound's national office in
Dallas, Texas The renovation
project is part of Greyhound's
plan to remodel eat h of its 524
terminals nationwide. Bonds
said.
The remodeling will take
place sometime between 1990
and 1992. according to (ires
hound Special Projects Consul
tant Tom Wagner, who added
that the renovation might be
"anything from paint and
patch to total remodeling."
"Our budget is decided quar
terly. Wagner said, "so we ll
lie meeting in April, and then
in |une or July, and we'll prob
ably start thinking atmiil 1990
at that time
When Greyhound dei ides the
exact date of the l-iugene reno
vation. one of the four employ
ees in the architectural design
department will come here to
inspect the downtown termi
nal. Wagner said
"There'll be at least 18 differ
ent decisions to make " Wag
ner said. The status of tin
lease, or whether the property
has been approved or con
demned by the city, will be tin
main considerations. In- added
Bonds said he doubled tin
local terminal would be moved
from its current location. I i«
s.iid the station signed a lease
with an investment group in
Dallas this year and doubts tin
lease will i reate problems
"This is a perfei t loi atiuu tor
us," Bonds said "It s close to
I
tin* t ’niversitv for stu
dents, it’s close to
downtown; it's 1'ien
fiiirly i li)M« to Spring
field
Bonds added that
when the Greyhound
surveyor comt's to
town he will suggest
c hanges for the termi
nal Among these, he
said, are an expanded
lobby, redesign of the
p.u kage express room
and more < ustomer
parking.
The remodeling
w ill tie the latest trails
formation for .1 depot
that has seen several
i hanges in its fit) years
f*H»lo bt M«rk > !«*n
The Urey hound depot downtown is one of only two in the country
that is run entirely by former (ireyhound employees.
Sherman Dilger is a retired
Greyhound employee who
worked as a ticket t lerk a! the
terminal from 1950-84. and re
memlxTs visiting it as early as
1942
"During (World War 111 the
company is as running practi
i ally any kind (of bus) it
could," Ditger said "One of
them had the baggage going on
top of the bus It (the luggage)
was miserable to hang on to
Ditger remembers that the
Kugene station of the '-Ills "had
a different kind of ti< ket conn
ter than now it was behind
glass " lie retails the "old
wooden benches" and the fact
that it employed more women
during the 1940s
Ditger said that tile 1941. 50
period was a peak for Grey
hound, both in local and na
tional business, at a time when
the automobile was lust liegin
ning to liei nine a dominant
tnrm ot transportation
Retired driver () K Marshall,
who stopped in Kugene many
times over his career, said lie
spent 21 years driving char
tered busses for the now-de
funct University varsity base
ball team
Dilger remembers when it
was pinball min bines, not y id
eo games, that grabbed visitors'
attention at the depot And he
rei alts that in all his years only
one holdup look plat e at the
terminal, "which is pretty
ama/ing considering it's so
near downtown
I
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