Greyhound bus service to return to Cape Girardeau today, begin selling tickets Wednesday

The Cape Girardeau County Transit Authority has inked a deal to bring Greyhound Lines back to Cape Girardeau.

The transit authority will act as a ticket agent and provide a waiting room.

Tom Mogelnicki, the transit authority's executive director, said ticket sales will begin Wednesday. The new service will offer four stops a day in Cape Girardeau, with trips to Memphis, Tenn., and St. Louis. Neither Mogelnicki nor a Greyhound spokeswoman was able to say what the ticket prices would be.

Currently, Greyhound makes one stop, at a Jackson park bench on South High Street, for passengers going to either of the two cities. Ticket prices for those trips range from $36.29 to $79.52 for St. Louis and $49 to $106 to Memphis.

But Mogelnicki said the transit authority will benefit from the deal, taking in 9 percent of ticket sales, which he estimated would add $10,000 to $20,000 to the transit authority's coffers.

The current budget for 2009 reflects a negative balance of $62,498.

The first Greyhound bus to make a scheduled stop in Cape Girardeau is expected to arrive at 10:30 a.m. today, according to Mogelnicki, but will likely just drop off passengers, as he does not expect to sell tickets immediately. The initial schedule for bus stops is at 10:30 a.m., 3:40 p.m., 8:35 p.m. and 10:50 p.m.

On Wednesday, Greyhound officials will install a computer system and train transit authority workers to use it to sell tickets, Mogelnicki said.

He has also set up a waiting room near the office at 937 Broadway. Mogelnicki said the waiting room includes access to restrooms and is a safe place for travelers waiting on a ride to their final destinations.

"We installed a soda machine and a snack machine for [travelers], in case they get hungry," Mogelnicki said.

Greyhound has a depot in Sikeston, Mo., but the closest stop in Cape Girardeau County is a bench in uptown Jackson. The Jackson stop will be eliminated from the Greyhound route later this week, Mogelnicki said.

According to the Greyhound's website, its buses stop at 35 Missouri communities. Greyhound bus service originally started in Cape Girardeau in 1929, when the then-named Pickwick Greyhound line bought a local company succumbing to the Great Depression, Gregory Bus Lines. Greyhound buses were a fixture in the city through 1990, when it shuttered its depot here.

Greyhound tickets will be sold starting Wednesday at the Cape County Transit offices from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For details, call Greyhound at 800-231-2222 or the transit authority at 335-5533.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

388-3646

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