The former Greyhound station in Old Town across the street from Union Station will soon house TriMet buses if a plan to purchase the building goes through. At a meeting this morning of Metro’s Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation (JPACT), TriMet General Manager Sam Desue announced a plan to reallocate funds currently set aside for zero emission buses and instead use it to purchase the Greyhound building for use as a bus layover facility.
“Due to our current financial situation, where we are reprioritizing the use of these funds,” Desue told fellow members of JPACT. “We currently have more buses that we need for our current operations. However, we’re not taking our foot off the gas regarding zero emission buses and purchases for the future.”
Desue went on to explain that TriMet intends to purchase the two-acre property at 550 NW 6th Avenue and convert it from a Greyhound terminal into a layover facility that can house up to nine, 60-foot spaces for TriMet buses. Currently, TriMet bus operators on the frequent service FX-2 Division Line layover in the transit mall on NW 5th and 6th avenues. TriMet says housing these buses indoors will be safer for operators, spur much-needed urban development in Old Town and satisfy a commitment TriMet made with the City of Portland in 2016 to not use a public street for extended layovers…