KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On Tuesday, Knoxville leaders sent a memorandum to the city council about Greyhound operations in the city.
The company recently moved its Knoxville bus stop to a location on Kirkwood Street, near the Great Warner Tabernacle AME Zion Church. That stop is also a stop for Knoxville Area Transit buses, and the change was met with criticism from the city.
According to the memorandum from Erin Gill, Deputy to the Mayor, there is not enough space at the stop for both Greyhound buses and KAT buses. It said Greyhound could have two buses at a time on Kirkwood Street for up to 20 minutes, picking up passengers.
The memorandum also said KAT passengers have not had room to wait at the bus shelter and emphasized the stop was not designed to serve multiple carriers. It also said KAT has received several calls asking about Greyhound service, causing confusion among passengers since KAT does not have the ability to answer questions about the company.
On one occasion, the memorandum said KAT received several calls from Greyhound passengers after a bus was canceled. A supervisor from KAT ended up driving passengers to a hotel because they had been waiting hours at night on a bus that never arrived.
"By using KAT’s Kirkwood Superstop as their defacto station, Greyhound has further abrogated their responsibility to provide their passengers with a secure, sanitary, and sheltered experience," the memorandum said. "These observations demonstrate just how quickly the costs of a private company failing to adequately serve their customers can be externalized inappropriately onto taxpayers."
It went on to say that Mayor Indya Kincannon is considering "legal remedies" to address the costs and safety challenges from Greyhound's operations.
It said the company is continuing to seek an appropriately zoned station but said it has not found a private host that would agree to share space with them.
The city said it had offered Greyhound options to use the downtown Transit Center overnight. They said those options include ones granting full access to the center during nighttime hours when KAT was not operating. There were also options to only access bathrooms and waiting/vending areas.
The option which provided limited access would have cost Greyhound an estimated $400,000 per year, covering the cost of PBA security, custodial staffing, and other costs associated with a new overnight shift at the center. However, they said Greyhound would not agree to that amount.
They said their estimated monthly budget would not cover the basic cost of PBA security, custodial services and added utility costs. So, the memorandum said they have not started a competitive solicitation or other processes needed for a formal lease agreement.
The company is owned by FlixMobility, valued at $3 billion in 2021, according to the memorandum.
Greyhound has also eliminated transfers and driver changes in Knoxville, so passengers using the Kirkwood stop are either starting or ending their trips in the city. According to the memorandum, they also agreed to add on-site personnel to help passengers during peak times.
The memorandum also said that the city reached out to the Federal Transit Administration and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which has authority over Greyhound.
"We will continue to explore possible administrative or legislative rule changes that would ensure private bus operations do not impede or add undue costs to our public transportation system, as well as those that would hold Greyhound to a higher standard of customer service," the memorandum said.