Rochester, N.Y. – Downtown’s Amtrak train station was built in 1978 as a “temporary” facility.
City officials cut the ribbon on another “temporary” facility right next door on Tuesday. The modular structure will service Trailways and Greyhound intercity passengers. The companies transport about 150,000 passengers a year to and from Rochester.
The city is hoping to build a $26 million intermodal station that would replace the train station and serve the intercity buses. The city is awaiting federal funding.
“The ultimate assumption here is that we will build a new station,” said Mayor Tom Richards. “And it will both serve the trains and the intercity buses and it will go somewhere right around here.”
Trailways and Greyhound had to get out of Midtown Plaza when the city shut down the shopping mall. The city spent $1.4 million on their relocation to Central Ave. The money paid for a new canopy, parking lot and signage.
Retired bus driver Bob Wright thinks the new bus station on Central Ave. is a big improvement. “It’s a lot safer. It’s a lot roomier. And a much more parking for the passengers that are traveling with us.”
Trailways owner Eugene Berardi does not view the new station as temporary. As for the intermodal station, he said, “Some day it may (happen), maybe not in my lifetime.”
