Font Resize
LAS CRUCES - The inside of this Porter Oil gas station and mini mart, at 309 S. Valley Drive, is pretty much empty.
The station was scheduled to close Saturday, but there's still business to conduct. For the next two weeks Greyhound Lines will still have a counter inside selling bus tickets to customers.
But even after the gas station and mini mart have closed up for good, even after the Greyhound ticket counter stops selling tickets on Jan. 14, the location will still serve as a bus stop.
Greyhound is still going to operate in and out of Las Cruces, despite signs posted at the gas station and mini mart that implied the bus service was leaving Las Cruces for good.
"All routes will continue to operate as normal," said Bonnie Bastian, Greyhound spokeswoman. "But ticket counter sales are going to cease at that location. It will still serve as a bus stop for departures for the foreseeable future. Greyhound is in the process of trying to secure another location (in Las Cruces) and those negotiations are ongoing.
"But until an announcement is made of where Greyhound will be relocating, the biggest change for customers is that they'll have to purchase tickets either online or by telephone."
A notice posted last week in front of the sales counter at the Porter Oil station informed customers that, "This station will be closed as of Dec. 17, 2010. We wish to thank all of our customers for their patronage and invite them to visit our other store located at Missouri
The dates on the notice have unsettled some Greyhound customers.
"This is the first time I have used a Greyhound in Las Cruces in about five years, and I was a little confused," said Matthew Mendiola, an Albuquerque resident taking the bus home after spending the holidays in Las Cruces. "Plus, this location seems to be in the middle of nowhere to me."
Thomas Briggs, said he is being paid to work the counter for Greyhound through Jan. 14. As the gas station and mini mart prepared to close in recent weeks it has been open fewer hours to customers.
"I think the change of hours has made the most effect on people and any confusion," Briggs said. "Since Dec. 17 the store hours have been decreased to Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and closed on the weekends. So, there are attendants to help them (during those hours)."
Briggs added he is optimistic that Greyhound could soon have a new location in Las Cruces.
Service for Greyhound Lines has been at 309 S. Valley Drive for several years, after moving there from a longtime location further north on Valley. Bastian said as many as 15 Greyhound departures are scheduled daily from Las Cruces. Americanos, which provides commercial bus service from Mexico into select U.S. cities, also picks up and drops off passengers at the same location every day.
But Bastian said Americanos is a separate bus service from Greyhound's, and she could not say how many stops it makes daily in Las Cruces.
Steve Ramirez can be reached at (575) 541-5452.
Bus stop
•Ticket counter sales will cease, but Greyhound bus service will continue in Las Cruces.
•Ticket counter sales from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday will end within the next two weeks.
•Greyhound service is at 309 S. Valley Drive.
•Greyhound officials said a gas station and mini mart at that location have closed.
•However, Greyhound will continue to have about 15 departures daily from that location.
•Greyhound is looking for a new location for its bus service.
•After Jan. 14, travelers who want to buy a ticket to travel on Greyhound will have to do that online or by telephone.
•On the Internet, Greyhound bus tickets can be bought at www.greyhound.com, or are available by calling (800) 231-2222 from 3 a.m. until midnight daily.
