Greyhound’s new depot opens

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This article was published 16/08/2009 (6124 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

APPARENTLY, no one told Kristin Cyr they moved the Greyhound bus depot while she was in Brandon. "I have no idea how to get home," said the University of Manitoba student, glancing around Greyhound’s new digs at the Richardson International Airport on Saturday afternoon.

Cyr, who lives in south Winnipeg, said she would be taking a city transit bus home from the depot anyway, so the new location wasn’t really a big deal. "I was just kind of surprised," she said.

Saturday was Greyhound’s first day of operation at the airport depot — located opposite the Air Canada end of the main terminal — since moving from its longtime home on Portage Avenue.

Brandon resident Jason Hildebrandt, who regularly buses it to Winnipeg to visit family, said he was "vaguely aware" a change was coming and considers the new depot an improvement.

"Either way, I normally have to take a couple of (city) buses, and this location looks like it might be a bit more comfortable," he said. "But I can imagine it’s going to be inconvenient for regular Winnipeg travellers who live closer to downtown," he said.

Albert Lafreniere, who was waiting to meet a passenger from the Brandon bus, wasn’t impressed.

"It’s too far for people who can’t afford to get here on their own. And how is somebody expected to get on a city bus with baggage like that?" he said pointing to a nearby unaccompanied cart loaded with a large box, a pillow and two bags.

However, Lukas Bregenzer, who is from Switzerland and has been travelling around the world since April of 2008, said Winnipeg’s shiny new bus depot is one of the best he’s seen since arriving in Canada last September.

"The station in Thunder Bay is old school. It smells," said Bregenzer, who was at the depot Saturday to hop a coach to wherever Greyhound happened to be travelling that day.

He did have one criticism. "The only thing lacking is it doesn’t have wireless (Internet)."

At the other side of the new depot, in the second building where the package courier service is located, a small but steady stream of customers arrived Saturday with boxes in their arms.

Carol West stopped by just after noon with two cardboard boxes in her hand, the first of many care packages for her son, who just moved to Saskatoon for university. In the past, West said, she’s used Greyhound to send numerous items to her daughter, who is a teacher in Leaf Rapids.

West said she works right across from the old Greyhound station on Portage Avenue, and would often drop off the packages before work in the morning.

"For me, this is not as convenient," she said. But, she stressed, the new location isn’t exactly an inconvenience.

She especially likes the automatic doors, which make manoeuvring the depot easier for people whose arms are packed with parcels.