The Greenville Transit Authority (GTA), or Greenlink, will move its administrative offices to the current location of the Greyhound bus terminal on McBee Avenue downtown. Greyhound rents the facility from GTA, which did not renew its annual lease.
Mark Rickards, city transit director, said some of GTA’s operatives would also move to McBee from the current South Main Street offices near Fluor Field.
“Plus the GTA has never had a board room, so we’ll be able to put that in there as well,” he said. There may also be concessions available at the McBee location. Renovations are expected to take six months and to be completed in early spring 2014. The city buses will continue to be parked at the South Main location.
Rickards said the end of the relationship with Greyhound was not at all contentious. Greyhound did not return calls seeking comment, but E. J. Sood, who handles ticketing and shipping and operates the Greenville terminal alone as an independent contractor, said the Greyhound terminal would move to a 3,000-square-foot space at 9 Hendrix Drive off Woodruff Road.
“We just discovered that Greenlink has some plans for their own expansion of some kind …. so we have no choice but to relocate,” Sood said.
Earlier this month, the company was talking with a contractor about a two-stage renovation process, Sood said. A second phase would follow after the service flow at the new location had been assessed.
Other changes at Greenlink include a proposal to expand service to Easley and Clemson University. Rickards said Clemson would fund the new bus route in an effort to connect its main campus with its business programs in downtown Greenville. The general public would pay normal fees to use the service, but Clemson students would not. Some state and local monies would also be used.
The next hearing is Aug. 19 at the Hendrix Student Center at Clemson University. Few people attended a previous hearing in Greenville, Rickards said.
