Old Greyhound Terminal in Philadelphia

[Ftmprob]

Before I lived in the Delaware Valley I remember taking a Grehound bus from
Newark, NJ to Philadelphia(approximately 1962). I recall that the bus went to
an underground terminal which may have been on Market St. somewhere between
City Hall and 30th St. Does anyone have any recollections of such a terminal
and when is was closed? Does the terminal still exist in some form of re-use?
Any information would be appreciated. Frank

[Gpsherxxxx]

I believe the terminal was at 17th and Market st on the north side. I thought
it was still in operation but I may be wrong. There was a Burger King on Market
st close by.
Greg

[Brian A Doreste]

Interesting... I was honestly thinking the exact same thing the other day.
Anyway, I believe that the entrance to the underground station is at the
corner of 16th and Arch Street. It appears to be a regular parking garage
today.

- brian

--
Brian A Doreste school email: bdoreste 'at' copland.udel.edu
74 E Cleveland Ave Apt 2 work email: bdoreste 'at' mail.dot.state.de.us
Newark, DE 19711-2247 USA Univ of Delaware Civil Engineering Undergraduate
Usual disclaimers apply Delaware Dept of Transportation|Traffic Ops/Mgmt

[Ftmprob]

>I

I think Greyhound now uses a joint terminal with other companies on Arch St.
East of Market. It is an above ground facility. It might have been the
Trailways facility before GH absorbed Trailways. Frank
>
>
>
>

[Peter Angelides]

The Greyhound terminal sat underneath a parking garage on Market Street,
between 17th and 18th. It was on the western side of the block. Nothing
remains today, as the site is occupied by the Mellon Bank Center, (at least
I think that's its name) which is the very tall building with a pyramid on
top. The developer of the skyscraper built the current bus terminal next to
the Gallery specifically so he could then redevelop the site. I believe the
terminal moved in 1985 or 1986. There was a Burger King in an adjoining
building that remained open until sometime in the 90's.

The underground terminal had the particular patina of decay reserved for
aging bus stations. Few mourned its passing.

Ftmprob wrote in message <19991020150616...@ng-cg1.aol.com>...

[George Robbins]

In article <7um0m8$4k10$1...@newssvr04-int.news.prodigy.com>, Peter Angelides wrote:
>The Greyhound terminal sat underneath a parking garage on Market Street,
>between 17th and 18th. It was on the western side of the block. Nothing
>remains today, as the site is occupied by the Mellon Bank Center, (at least
>I think that's its name) which is the very tall building with a pyramid on
>top. The developer of the skyscraper built the current bus terminal next to
>the Gallery specifically so he could then redevelop the site. I believe the
>terminal moved in 1985 or 1986. There was a Burger King in an adjoining
>building that remained open until sometime in the 90's.
>
>The underground terminal had the particular patina of decay reserved for
>aging bus stations. Few mourned its passing.

Was it really completly underground, or just sort of connected to
the Suburban Station concourse? I remember exiting thru there once
but never had occasion to take a bus.

The current "underground" entrance that someone else mentioned is
off of 19th street between Market and Arch, it's Commmerce Street
and serves an underground loading dock that's between Market street
and the suburban station concourse level.

--
George Robbins - now working for work: g...@netaxs.com
Net Access - seemed like the best uucp: ...!uunet!netaxs.com!grr
way to help improve service... play: g...@tharsis.com

[g...@my-deja.com]

In article <7um0m8$4k10$1...@newssvr04-int.news.prodigy.com>,

"Peter Angelides" <ange...@prodigy.net> wrote:
> The Greyhound terminal sat underneath a parking garage on Market Street,
> between 17th and 18th. It was on the western side of the block. Nothing
> remains today, as the site is occupied by the Mellon Bank Center, (at least
> I think that's its name) which is the very tall building with a pyramid on
> top. The developer of the skyscraper built the current bus terminal next to
> the Gallery specifically so he could then redevelop the site. I believe the
> terminal moved in 1985 or 1986. There was a Burger King in an adjoining
> building that remained open until sometime in the 90's.
>
> The underground terminal had the particular patina of decay reserved for
> aging bus stations. Few mourned its passing.
>
>

I somehow remember the current Greyhound Terminal on Filbert Street was to be
temporary until a proper one could be built. Given that it is a low-level
structure in the heart of the city, I'm sure that soeone would want to
redevelop it, perhap incorporating a bus terminal into a new structure.

For the record, The termianl also serves Peter Pan (no relation to Mr.
Angelides), Martz, Carolina Trailways, Capitol Trailways, Bieber and New
Jersey Transit.

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

[Karen Byrd]

In article <7um0m8$4k10$1...@newssvr04-int.news.prodigy.com>, "Peter
Angelides" <ange...@prodigy.net> wrote:

> The Greyhound terminal sat underneath a parking garage on Market Street,
> between 17th and 18th. It was on the western side of the block. Nothing
> remains today, as the site is occupied by the Mellon Bank Center, (at least
> I think that's its name) which is the very tall building with a pyramid on
> top. The developer of the skyscraper built the current bus terminal next to
> the Gallery specifically so he could then redevelop the site. I believe the
> terminal moved in 1985 or 1986. There was a Burger King in an adjoining
> building that remained open until sometime in the 90's.
>
> The underground terminal had the particular patina of decay reserved for
> aging bus stations. Few mourned its passing.
>

And because of that a wall sculpture(I forget the artist's name)
inside the terminal
was almost destroyed when the terminal was gotten rid. The work,
I believe, is now in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

--
Karen Byrd

[Miltone]

if anything remains you can probably see it by going to suburban station main
floor undergnd and walking west until you can go no further. I remember walking
between the two areas many times. It was always a dark and dirty experience
except durring a few periods of renovation.

[Peter Angelides]

I'm pretty sure the terminal was connected to the rest of the Suburban
Station concourse. The underground street that trucks access from 19th is
part of the Penn Center development, and was intended to remove loading
docks for the Penn Center office buildings from the surface streets. It has
worked rather nicely for this purpose. I don't remember if it was how the
Greyhound buses entered and exited the stations.

[Peter Angelides]

I don't recall any serious plans for office or other mixed-use development
on the site. The current terminal sits on the site of the Harrison
building, which burned to the ground in a spectacular blaze in either 1983
or 1984. Workers were renovating the structure for offices at the time, and
some fool welder let sparks drop down an elevator shaft onto oily timber, or
something like that. Most of the office development action has occurred
West of Market since then, and I don't think a new structure, as opposed to
a renovated one, would have made make economic sense in the last 15 years.

Thanks for filling out the list of bus terminal users. It looks like
everybody but SEPTA uses it. Who is Beiber, BTW?

[g...@my-deja.com]

In article
<7uonkj$14do$1@newssvr04-int.n

ews.prodigy.com>,
"Peter Angelides"
<ange...@prodigy.net> wrote:

Bieber is based in Kutztown
and runs service to
Philadelphia from Reading via
Kutztown and Allentown with
stops along 309 in Montgomery
County and at select locations along Broad Street in
Philadelphia.

I believe they may have
received some support for the
service from the Commonwealth
after the demise of Septa's
rail service north of
Lansdale.

They also have scheduled services from Reading and the Lehigh Valley to New
York and Atlantic City.

And they may have occasionally handled charters for
Epsiscopal Academy.

They have a website at http://www.biebertours.com

[Bill Jameson]

Peter Angelides wrote:
>
> I'm pretty sure the terminal was connected to the rest of the Suburban

> Station concourse. ...

It certainly was. I used to get off the PRR Paoli Local at
Suburban, go up to the main floor, west to where the rest
rooms are, south to the UPI office with its teletype in the
window, turn right a short distance, up some stairs, then
left and there's Market Street ahead, with the Greyhound to
your right. A good route on a rainy day. This was 1966.

Bill Jameson

[Exile on Market Street]

In article <byrd-21109...@170.212.21.237>, by...@mscf.med.upenn.edu
(Karen Byrd) wrote:

> And because of that a wall sculpture(I forget the artist's name)
> inside the terminal
> was almost destroyed when the terminal was gotten rid. The work,
> I believe, is now in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

I think the wall sculpture you are referring to -- somehow the word
"transformation" sticks in my head as part of the sculpture's title --
actually stood in the lobby of Six Penn Center, the still-standing office
building to which the bus terminal was attached.

I remember reading about two years ago that the sculpture was owned not by
the building's then-owner, but by someone else, who moved it from its site
much as Steve Wynn would have moved "Dream Garden" from the Curtis Center
lobby had the sale gone through (and as the Merriam estate still would like
to see happen). Because the building was vacant at the time -- its former
occupant, Conrail, had moved to Two Commerce Square -- there was no
commotion until after the deed was done.

Six Penn Center now houses the law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Its
lower floors have been turned into a parking garage.

--
Sandy Smith, University Relations / 215.898.1423 / smi...@pobox.upenn.edu
Associate Editor, _Pennsylvania Current_ cur...@pobox.upenn.edu
Penn Web Team -- Web Editor webm...@isc.upenn.edu
I speak for myself here, not Penn http://pobox.upenn.edu/~smiths/

"What he was best at was lying, that is, public relations."
--Ian Lustick, professor and chair of political science, on former Israeli
-------Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (_Daily Pennsylvanian_ 10/5/99)--

[Peter Angelides]

I wonder if Central ever used them?

[Art Clemons]

In article <19991020193707...@ng-fi1.aol.com>, ftm...@aol.com
(Ftmprob) writes:

>I think Greyhound now uses a joint terminal with other companies on Arch St.
>East of Market. It is an above ground facility. It might have been the
>Trailways facility before GH absorbed Trailways. Frank

It's the other way around, Greyhound absorbed Trailways.

There was once a Greyhound facility at about 17th & Market to 18th & Market,
and a Trailways facility at 13th & Arch. I wasn't living in the area when
either closed, and I avoid long distance buses if at all possible for the same
reason I dread plane travel-- no space.
-art clemons-

[rabb...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, October 20, 1999 at 10:00:00 AM UTC+3, Ftmprob wrote:
> Before I lived in the Delaware Valley I remember taking a Grehound bus from
> Newark, NJ to Philadelphia(approximately 1962). I recall that the bus went to
> an underground terminal which may have been on Market St. somewhere between
> City Hall and 30th St. Does anyone have any recollections of such a terminal
> and when is was closed? Does the terminal still exist in some form of re-use?
> Any information would be appreciated. Frank

Yes there was a G B underground terminal on the the N. Side of Market St (Main Entry). Tickets & stalls. 1/2 floor down to a landing at rear then a left turn to lower level. It was an island style with gates on each of the 2 sides. There was also some access for deliveries and some doorway to an underground parking area beyond. The driveway ramp reached street level about a block &1/2 to the west in place of a small street btw a surface parking lot and a bldg. It shows up on some old P T C street & transit maps. There were, via u-g parking & delivery facilities, some connections to The Concourse. Prior to that and the end of the Penna R R "Chinese Wall", there was a bus station closer to City Hall on the S. Side of Market St.
East of C H has been a T N J station-terminal and Safeway Trails Terminal-Depot.

[nella....@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, October 20, 1999 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Ftmprob wrote:
> Before I lived in the Delaware Valley I remember taking a Grehound bus from
> Newark, NJ to Philadelphia(approximately 1962). I recall that the bus went to
> an underground terminal which may have been on Market St. somewhere between
> City Hall and 30th St. Does anyone have any recollections of such a terminal
> and when is was closed? Does the terminal still exist in some form of re-use?
> Any information would be appreciated. Frank

I remember my grandma taking me to watch the buses at that terminal in the summer of 74. I can still remember how cool it looked going down the escalators into the lower waiting room and seeing those silvery red white and blue coaches parked in outside the glass wall. Te buses were parked on both sides. I can still see the then new mc8s and the existing mc5 coaches.

[rabb...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, October 20, 1999 at 9:00:00 AM UTC+2, Ftmprob wrote:
> Before I lived in the Delaware Valley I remember taking a Grehound bus from
> Newark, NJ to Philadelphia(approximately 1962). I recall that the bus went to
> an underground terminal which may have been on Market St. somewhere between
> City Hall and 30th St. Does anyone have any recollections of such a terminal
> and when is was closed? Does the terminal still exist in some form of re-use?
> Any information would be appreciated. Frank

The buses entered via a ramp as mentioned elsewhere from the west (19th to 18th = open and before 18th, was underground & covered. then signaled to advance to bay # via clockwise traffic. Mom & I used it a few times in the 60s At that time, it was a pleasant place. We even started a package tour trip from there through Canada to Quebec. We stayed in the Ch. Frontenac. Same room my mom had when she & some friends went on vacation. They were there when there was a summit meeting and they got bumped from their rooms. Mom & 2 ended up taking a consolation prize- main building 1 floor above elevators highest floor in tower. We requested same room: What a view.

[Robyn Trent Jefferson]

Does anyone here remember whether there were lockers in this Greyhound bus terminal in the 1970? Were the tickets purchased underground as well? Also, does anyone remember the Astoria Hotel which was on 12th and Market?