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Greyhound closes Ventura terminal
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More from BusinessVentura's Greyhound bus station has closed after about 40 years in operation.
Dallas-based Greyhound Lines Inc. shuttered the stop Feb. 28 because it wasn't profitable, according to company spokesman Dustin Clark.
"It was a combination of ridership and the cost of doing business in Ventura that became cost-prohibitive," he said.
Now, the only Ventura County stop is at the Oxnard Transportation Center, about eight miles from the shuttered location at 291 E. Thompson Blvd. The next closest station is in Santa Barbara.
"Business has gone down," said Ramon Placencia, the independent sales contractor for Greyhound in Ventura County. "The passenger counts went down, so the cost to do business there was higher than the amount of money we were taking in."
Manny Pacheco, 69, of Ventura has used the Thompson Boulevard terminal to catch buses to visit family in Santa Monica.
He'll make do by not going anymore, he said.
"I'm not too concerned about it," he said of the closure, "but I know people who occasionally took it and this is going to be a loss for them."
Placencia has operated Greyhound's Ventura County lines since the mid-1990s. There used to be stops in Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Paula and Thousand Oaks.
Thousand Oaks shut down a few years ago, he said, and the Santa Paula stop closed about 30 years back.
Last year, in a deal valued at $3.6 billion, Britain's largest bus and train operator, FirstGroup PLC, purchased Greyhound's then-struggling owner, Laidlaw International Inc.
Because fleets of school buses are core businesses for FirstGroup and Laidlaw, the acquisition sparked widespread speculation that FirstGroup would spin off Greyhound, an intercity bus provider, because it appears to be a poor fit.
That hasn't happened.
"Greyhound has been in a transition period and pretty much shutting down locations just like anybody else," Placencia said. "It's been slowing down for the past three years, but this year we thought it wasn't making the numbers we were looking for."
Part of Greyhound's decline in the area might be attributed to Amtrak, which has picked up ridership in recent years. Fares for each are competitive. A one-way ticket from Oxnard to Los Angeles most weekdays is $17.50 aboard Greyhound and $17 on Amtrak. However, Greyhound offers more destinations departing from the Oxnard Transportation Center, 201 E. Fourth St.
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Posted by highriseray1 on March 7, 2008 at 4:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
that is sad cause i would use the bus to go to sb for the day i guess i will be taking the amtrak
Posted by RelaxPeople on March 7, 2008 at 8:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ironically, people will now have to take the SCAT bus to oxnard in order to catch the bus. cuz lets face it, if yer riding grey hound, well, you probably dont have a car.
Posted by aztowbum on March 7, 2008 at 9:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Can't remember...Where was it prior to the Thompson location?
Posted by aztowbum on March 7, 2008 at 9:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Can't remember...Where was it prior to the Thompson location?
Posted by jgeee805 on March 7, 2008 at 10:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
highriseray1 Wrote:
"that is sad cause i would use the bus to go to sb for the day i guess i will be taking the amtrak"
Well, if spending more than you need to is just something you like to do....go for it.
If not, try the VISTA bus, leaving from the Gov. Center, Pacific View Mall, and downtown Ventura at California and Santa Clara St.
If you Google "vista Ventura" you can check the schedule.
Posted by acabrera on March 7, 2008 at 12:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
jgeee805: couldn't you have offered the advice without the judgement? would you have said this if you were having a face to face conversation?
Posted by lmcventura on March 7, 2008 at 6:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We now live in Vancouver, WA and had the need to use Grayhound to have two grand kids come up and visit from Grants Pass OR, (about 5 hours by car), It was the Worst Experience we ever had with any company, the terminal was poorly staffed, they were located in the worst parts of Vancouver and Portland, (homeless, druggers, etc.) their customer service was so poor, that we swore off ever using them or Amtrak for that matter. It is no wonder that they are a money losing venture.......Frankly, no big loss, in Vancouver, or Ventura!!
Posted by juandeveras on March 8, 2008 at 12:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
A careful review by this newspaper of what has been occurring in Ventura lo these past several years would have revealed there has been a plan processed through the various entities for a multi-level development at the Ventura Greyhound site and that recently it was approved - residential units, underground parking, interior courtyards and retail space.
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