Trailways of New York, the largest and oldest intercity travel provider in the state of New York and select Canadian cities, and Peter Pan Bus Lines announced that they are leaving the Albany, New York, bus terminal they have called home for over 25 years.
The switch occurred on Dec. 1, with the first departures leaving their new temporary home that same day.
Trailways of New York CEO Eugene J. Berardi Jr. said the move “was caused by Greyhound, who evicted us from the facility after dissolving its long-standing partnership with us just this past summer. While Greyhound no longer owns the station, they remain the leaseholder, and now that they view us as competition, they have evicted Trailways as a subtenant. I have no doubt this will negatively impact the traveling public.”
Greyhound didn’t immediately respond to an email from Bus & Motorcoach News seeking comment on the situation.
Moves with interline partner
“Peter Pan Bus Lines is an interline partner with Trailways of New York,” Peter Pan Marketing Director Danielle Veronesi said in a statement to Bus & Motorcoach News. “In order to accommodate our connecting passengers traveling to cities like Boston; Hartford; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; and hundreds of other locations through the Northeast, we have moved along with them to the new facility at 66 Green St.”
On June 1, Greyhound canceled its pooling agreement with Trailways of New York as well as its
agreement with Trailways.com that allowed it to sell its tickets. The arrangement benefited
passengers who needed to take several buses to reach a destination, allowing them to buy interline
tickets that included rides on Greyhound and Trailways buses. Greyhound ended the longtime arrangement less than a year after German-owned FlixMobility, the parent company of FlixBus USA, acquired Greyhound.
Earlier this month, Trailways of New York announced it was moving on, after its divorce from Greyhound, with a new partnership with Megabus, one of the largest bus companies in North America and a major competitor of Greyhound.
Megabus.com, part of Coach USA, offers intercity bus service across the Eastern, Southern and Midwestern United States and in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It’s known for offering city-to-city express bus service across North America with fares as low as $1. The company recently introduced real-time tracking on buses, allowing customers to monitor their buses with live departure and arrival times.
Accepting passengers
The news of Trailways’ move from the Albany terminal comes following the recent release of a study reimagining the decaying downtown Albany station as an $81 million state-of-the-art transit facility.
“Everyone at Trailways had been excited that the plans currently underway to rebuild the downtown bus terminal might happen soon,” Berardi said. “The new plans call for a mixed-use development, including a first-class transit facility that would make the travel experience more enjoyable to all passengers visiting the capital city. We were firmly in support of the project beginning.”
Trailways of New York’s new temporary facility is now accepting passengers at 66 Green St. in Albany, footsteps from the company’s former home.
Trailways of New York (Adirondack, Pine Hill and New York Trailways) operates over 150 trips per day to more than 140 destinations in New York, New Jersey and Canada. The largest, longest continuously operating intercity bus carrier in New York State, Trailways of New York boasts safe, affordable and eco-friendly transportation. The largest and longest continuously operating intercity bus carrier in New York State, Trailways of New York boasts safe, affordable and eco-friendly transportation.
