Greyhound confirmed that starting at 6:35 a.m. today the company's buses will pick up and drop off passengers at Metro Transit's North Transfer Point, 1213 Huxley St.

That puts the lifespan of the Interstate truck stop TravelCenter as Greyhound's "permanent" terminal for Madison, as one day.

"Because of comments from individuals, we have decided to move back to that (North Transfer) point, a more centralized point for the residents who use our services," said Timothy Stokes, Greyhound spokesman.

"We are looking for a more permanent location," he added.

The North Transfer Point is a block off Aberg Avenue, between Packers and North Sherman avenues.

The truck stop is on Highway 51 at Interstate 39-90-94, 10 miles from the Capitol, a daunting journey for potential Greyhound bus passengers, especially as there is no public transport to that area, aside from taxi cabs.

In the space of one week, the Greyhound passenger service has moved five times. Service was uprooted in November from West Washington Avenue and Bedford Street when the Badger Bus Depot was demolished for a pharmacy and 83 apartments, to open this summer.

And, according to an e-mail memo summarizing a meeting between city officials, aldermen and bus bosses Wednesday, the bus company late Wednesday agreed to contact a West Washington Avenue service station to set up a passenger stop and ticket sales. Intercity Badger Buses already stop there.

At that meeting, "Greyhound was repeatedly told that the recent chaos was not acceptable ... the recent chaos could not happen again." By Thursday morning, however, Greyhound informed the mayor's assistant, Ray Harmon, that they wanted to go back to the North Transit Point.

Greyhound bosses from Dallas, Minneapolis and Chicago were at the meeting Wednesday, where the assembled discussed "short-, mid-, and long-range plans" for a city location.

The memo from Ald. Chris Schmidt, District 11, circulated to aldermen and, later, to select neighborhood groups, said Greyhound had a "broker" in Madison looking for a "mid-term" site, and was interested in finding a long-term solution, such as a "multi-modal station" where different services, including high speed rail, would meet.

Schmidt said Thursday that he was surprised at Greyhound's change of heart and address, and his impression from the Greyhound meeting is that the bus company will still try to establish a stop on West Washington Avenue.

"I expect they will explore that, because the North Transfer Point is better, but it is still not great," he said.

"I believe (Greyhound) is still very committed to finding these solutions, but how we and they go about that has to be much more orderly than it has been. For starters, they shouldn't be moving again until they have a plan for a mid-term solution," Schmidt said.

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