Bus line closes six state stops

By Ron Jackson
The Oklahoman

Six Oklahoma bus stops were closed Thursday by Greyhound Lines Inc. as part of a nationwide plan to trim costs and expedite travel, a company spokeswoman confirmed.

Bus stops in Chelsea, Claremore, Clinton, Miami, Vinita and Weatherford all were casualties of Greyhound's cutbacks, along with 62 other locations Thursday in a nine-state region that stretches from Missouri to California.

Oklahoma now has 19 Greyhound bus stop locations, including major stations in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

"To put it into perspective," said Kim Plaskett, a company spokeswoman, "twenty-nine of those bus stops had no outbound travelers last year."

Tammy Wolsey, who co-managed the Clinton bus stop, expressed disappointment in the company's decision.

"To me, it seemed profitable," Wolsey said. "Last year, after our money was taken out, we made Greyhound $30,000. I guess that wasn't enough."

Clinton and Weatherford both offered seven scheduled stops daily.

"The traffic simply didn't justify stops in those towns," Plaskett said. "But I can assure people these decisions were only made after much analysis."

Plaskett said the company would not release any financial figures, but did release customer numbers.

In Clinton, for instance, Plaskett said 293 people purchased a bus ticket last year for other destinations. Inbound customers who exited at Clinton totaled 633.

Weatherford's numbers were much lower with 109 customers riding a Greyhound bus out of town in 2004 and 269 customers stopping in town. The Vinita location may have been hurt by its location.

"The bus stop was a half-mile walk from downtown -- easily," said Bob Kerby, Vinita Area Chamber of Commerce's executive director. "In fact, we were just talking about that very issue, literally days before we got the news about the closure. It's a bad deal."

Chelsea, Claremore, Miami, and Vinita offered four scheduled stops daily.