Another Piece of Disappearing Americana

Rare upgrade: the San Francisco Greyhound bus depot is on the
3rd floor of the new $2.3 billion transit center.

In the early '70's I frequently rode the inter-city buses. I'd spend hours waiting to transfer at the bus terminals in New York, Boston, Chicago. Detroit, and small towns in between.

Taking the bus was part of the culture, like joining the military, that is experienced by fewer people nowadays and by hardly anyone in the middle class. It's not a surprise that Bus Stations Across America Are Closing:

The potential closure highlights a plight confronting millions of travelers, many on lower incomes, that attracts far less attention than passenger rail or aviation.

Intercity bus stations are closing throughout the country. At least eight cities have lost their stations so far, including Philadelphia, Ohio’s Columbus and Tampa, Fla. Passengers have had to wait on street corners and parking lots, causing tensions with local officials...Chicago would be the largest city to lose its terminal. It isn’t clear where passengers would wait.

With bus terminals situated in inner-city property, the real estate is worth more to a developer than it is to a bus company, even if the surrounding area is run down.

Regulators cannot reverse the closure of bus terminals, they can only delay it. There will continue to be demand for low cost, if very slow, ground transportation to smaller communities across America, but at this point it's unclear how that demand will be met.