By Scott Meeker
smeeker@joplinglobe.com
Greyhound passengers will no longer be stranded in the cold during transfers that fall in hours that the Joplin bus station is closed.
Maureen Richmond, a spokeswoman for Greyhound Lines, of Dallas, Texas, said Tuesday that the company has blocked the sale of tickets that have arrival or departure times during the hours the station is closed.
The Joplin bus depot, 217 W. Second St., is open for 16 hours a day, closing from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m., noon to 2 p.m., and 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
Before the change, travelers whose buses arrived during closed hours had to wait outside the station until the next bus came in or the station opened again. On cold days, some passengers would ask to wait inside the lobby of Joplin Printing Co. across the street. Others would walk to the Joplin Public Library.
The Joplin Greyhound station is one of nearly 900 around the country that are known as “agency locations,” meaning they are managed by an outside provider, according to Richmond. The Joplin depot is managed by CTB Management, of Springfield, which took over the operation about six months ago.
Clinton Beecham, owner of CTB Management, said last week that he was keeping the same hours the previous provider had set, but he would look at the possibility of keeping the station open for passengers.
On Tuesday, he said the schedule change is permanent, and it was made after questions were posed by the Globe about travelers having to wait outside.
“We were able to fix the problem,” Beecham said. “It will take several weeks before all the tickets that have already been sold (that have transfer times during closed hours) are gone, but until then we’ll remain open during those times.
“And if an odd person does happen to have a connection during those times, we’ll keep the lobby open for them.”
