Greyhound is long gone and so is Blue Bird.

And there may be again.

Part of "Impact Warren," a $40 million downtown rejuvenation project, is a new transit center which would serve as a new home for the Transit Authority of Warren County and provide temporary accommodations for charter buses coming into the area.

When city officials outlined "Impact Warren," they said they hoped the new transit center might also help lure regular bus service back to the area.

Greyhound, Blue Bird and Fulington coach lines at one time or another provided regular service to and from Warren.

John Aldrich, director of TAWC, said he has already been in contact with Fulington Bus of Clearfield, which is the last commercial bus company to have offered regular service in Warren.

"They have buses running to State College, Edinboro, Erie, Oil City, Meadville, DuBois, Bradford, all around us," said Aldrich, "but they don't come here. I don't know what it would take to turn that around but I'm sure if they could make money, they would do it."

Aldrich said he discussed plans for the transit center in general terms with Fulington.

"I let them know what is going on and discussed the possibility of their returning to Warren," said Aldrich. "They said they would think about it. The big thing is the amount of riders."

Walt Fry of Fulington agreed that the key factor in discontinuing bus service to Warren was simply the dwindling number of riders and profitability.

But Fry said he is willing to discuss the possibility of returning service to the area.

"I haven't evaluated the situation. That's something that I need to do," said Fry. "It's something that we will look at. I'll come up and talk to him (Aldrich)."

Aldrich believes there is a potential ridership base for a bus service which would provide transportation from the Warren area for students attending college in Edinboro, Erie and Jamestown, all spots where Fulington already has regular stops.

Aldrich said he only contacted the Clearfield bus company because Greyhound now "pretty much sticks to the interstates" and Blue Bird deals primarily with charter service.

Jim Decker, executive director of the Warren County Chamber of Commerce, said regular bus service would be a welcome addition.

Regular bus service to and from the Erie International Airport might be particularly attractive, said Decker.

"The more opportunities we can provide to get people in and out of our area, the better," said Decker.

The transit center would be located on Clark St., in the easternmost Loranger building and would be adjacent to a small convention center and riverfront motel being planned for the area.

Aldrich said that the state has already approved $1.245 million in funding for the transit center and TAWC has applied for an additional $135,000.

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