Greyhound moves Chattanooga bus station to Wildwood

WILDWOOD, Ga. (WDEF) – For decades, Greyhound has been the top long distance bus travel company in America. That has included multiple bus stations across Chattanooga.

However, they have now officially left the Scenic City.

One passenger, CJ Robinson, said, “I caught the Greyhound from Raleigh, North Carolina to here. I tried to get a stop in Chattanooga, but Greyhound told me I had to stop here.”

That place is a simple bus stop at the back of a gas station off of I-24 in Wildwood in Dade County. 

The interior of the Wildwood Bus Stop, a single kiosk inside of a gas station.

Robinson, who we found sitting alone outside of the gas station, said, “(There’s) no waiting places at all. I’m sitting here outside the gas station, waiting.”

For passengers like Robinson, he says the burden placed on passengers used to paying relatively low fares for Greyhound trips is extreme.

Robinson said, “It’s a big hassle. I mean Uber prices were really high, like $75-80 to go eight miles down the road.”

When we were out in Wildwood, we sampled how much a potential trip would be on the rideshare app Lyft.

For a standard rate, we got a flat rate of $82 to City Hall, and this is before any tip.

Even with an hour wait, the flat rate is still a pricey $27.

The station was previously located on East 12th Street.

We previously reported that the building Greyhound used to use is being considered for an emergency homeless shelter, which since has been placed in limbo after community backlash.

We asked the city of Chattanooga and CARTA if they plan to service the new Greyhound location, since Wildwood has no public transportation options.

A city of Chattanooga spokesperson sent us this statement:

 “CARTA’s mission is to provide cost effective, efficient and safe transit for the citizens, visitors and businesses of the City of Chattanooga, Hamilton County and the surrounding areas. They have been fulfilling that mission for more than 40 years and continue doing so today. Neither CARTA or the City has the responsibility or authority to architect the mix of private enterprises that exist along its routes. If there is sufficient demand for Greyhound or similar bus travel, the market will respond. Meanwhile, Groome Shuttle in East Ridge offers service to Nashville and Atlanta on a much more frequent schedule than Greyhound. Market forces determine a commercial bus route’s viability. If the community feels it needs to subsidize a route, that is a question for Council. Furthermore, a station need not be in the city itself to effectively serve the Metropolitan Area.”

It is worth noting that Groome Shuttles are pricier than Greyhound as for a ticket to Atlanta around the same time on Saturday. Groome is nearly $30 more expensive than Greyhound.

For those who are cash strapped and need to hit the road, it could present a challenge moving forward.

Robinson said, “Especially if they don’t have family to pick them up right away, those Uber prices, taxi prices, are going to be extremely high.”

News 12 reached out to Greyhound for comment on why they have moved our area bus station but they have yet to respond.