Miamidade County Rejects Greyhound Plan For Brickell Bus Station

By Susan Stabley
The Miami-Dade County Commission on Tuesday rejected plans from Greyhound Lines Inc. to build a bus station in the Brickell area.

The Dallas-based company had negotiated a lease with the county for a 2,500-square-foot, single-story structure at Miami’s Brickell Station, an existing hub that connects Metrorail, Metromover and Metrobus services at 1001 SW First Ave.

But county officials killed the plan during Tuesday’s meeting and after weeks of opposition from the neighborhood, a resolution against the station from the Miami City Commission and a pledge to halt the plan from County Commissioner Jimmy Morales.

The leader of a local area association, frustrated by a lack of public input on the proposal and concerned about its potential impact on traffic, had campaigned against the deal and expressed hopes that the issue was finally over.

"In short, the county commissioners have heard the people and acted appropriately," Rick Gonsalves, president of the Brickell Area Association, wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. "Hopefully the county officials responsible for this transaction will take note of the unacceptable manner in which they acted."

A Senate bill signed June 15 by Gov. Jeb Bush had OK’d Greyhound for nearly $2 million in federal funds for building a station.

Greyhound spokeswoman Lynn Brown said late Tuesday that the company had not been formally notified but had already received indications that the contract would not be executed.

"We’re willing to work with the county with whatever location makes sense for Greyhound and the county," said Ms. Brown, who added that timing is an issue for her company’s plans.

Commissioner Morales has suggested the downtown county government center as an alternative location. It serves both Metromover and Metrorail and is one block from a major bus connection.

Greyhound has four stations in Miami. A station at Brickell would have replaced a temporary station near the Overtown/Arena Metromover station at 100 NW Sixth St. The company has about 112 company-operated bus terminals and another 1,700 agency-operated terminals or sales agencies nationwide. Greyhound serves 2,600 US destinations.