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A plan by Greyhound to include Houma as a stop in its bus service between Baton Rouge and New Orleans is moving forward as the transportation giant continues finalizing the new route.
The company’s officials had spoken of a February start date but a continued wait for documents that would allow some federal government dollars to be pumped into the program has taken longer than expected. A company spokeswoman said service could begin as early as July.
Greyhound officials said the service would include stops in LaPlace and Gonzales.
Bus service was available to and from Houma until 2005, when it was cut due to lack of ridership, Greyhound officials have said.
“We will offer two daily schedules to Houma, one outgoing and one incoming per day,” said Greyhound spokeswoman Lanesha Gipson. “In regard to fare prices, we don’t have that information at this time. We’ll likely start with an introductory fare, and our pricing team will do a competitive analysis to develop the regular pricing going forward. Pricing could vary based on day of week, holiday periods, etcetera.”
Locally, the South Central Planning Commission has been a strong point of contact for Greyhound. The commission’s regional transportation director, Leo Marretta, said that a letter requested from his agency to Greyhound, which would help unlock the federal money required, was sent after the commission’s approval.
“They wanted to receive a letter confirming that if they receive the money that they can get the federal dollars to help finance this,” Marretta said. “It is funneled from the feds to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. We forwarded them the letter telling them if they get approved, will make sure they are included in our five-year plan.”
Terrebonne Parish officials said it is likely the Greyhound busses would arrive and depart from the transportation hub now used by Good Earth Transit on West Main Street.
Greyhound bus service between New Orleans and Baton Rouge with daily stops in Houma could begin as soon as July, a company spokeswoman said.
