At afternoon pickup, parked cars crowded both sides of South Second Street, narrowing the roadway to the width of a goat path as Amigos Spanish Immersion Preschool students and parents reunited on the sidewalk.To school owner Cloe Levin, it would be insane to add a terminal for Greyhound and other interstate buses in the parking garage next door, as Philadelphia officials are considering.
A consultant will do a feasibility analysis and pick a preferred site near the Amtrak station and SEPTA hub and develop preliminary designs. Still, the need for a temporary intercity bus terminal will remain for some time. Prospects for South Second Street are unclear. The city says it’s considering other sites but won’t name them.
As for the AutoPark garage, “we have said — and will adhere to — involving the community before any bus station is activated,” OTIS and the city Planning Department said in a joint May 31 statement. The site “still has challenges that need to be overcome” before it is a serious candidate, the agencies said.
They’ve not noticed an “uptick in nuisance behaviors,” she said. The curbside station is not in the business improvement district’s boundaries, though and residents closer to it have complained about noise and traffic and litter.Levin, the Amigos preschool owner, said she’s not attacking bus customers at all. The school enrolls about 100 children, who are taught in Spanish only by native speakers.