Dive Brief: - The Chicago City Council voted 38-10 Wednesday to buy and renovate a former Greyhound bus terminal for $19.2 million, saving it from possible sale or demolition. The city will finance the project by expanding an adjoining $50 million tax increment financing district to include the bus station. - Advocates including the Environmental Law and Policy Center and Better Streets Chicago, with help from the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University, urged the city to take over the bus facility and showed how it could be modernized at a reasonable cost. - The proposed upgrades “were likely the single biggest factor that compelled the aldermen to vote yes,” Chaddick Institute Director Joseph Schwieterman, who attended the council meeting, told Smart Cities Dive. Dive Insight: Chicago joins Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, New York City and Los Angeles in renovating or providing new downtown bus terminals as intercity bus ridership grows. “Motorcoaches provided more than 350 million passenger trips across nearly 44 billion passenger miles in 2025, making our industry a critical part of America’s transportation network,” Fred Ferguson, president and CEO of the American Bus Association, said in an email. “Reliable and affordable terminal access is essential to safety, accessibility, and the passenger experience.” Greyhound, which was acquired by FlixMobility in 2021, upgraded its fleet with 185 new buses over the past two years and has 80 more on order, according to CX Dive. The company rebranded as Flix in 2022. “We appreciate the Chicago City Council’s action to support continued access to a central intercity bus facility for the city,” Flix North America CEO Kai Boysan said in an email. “This is an important outcome for the thousands of travelers who rely on affordable intercity bus service in and out of Chicago each day.” Greyhound has used