New Greyhound service coming to Naperville

A new bus route that could help Naperville-area students commute to Northern Illinois University soon will be stopping at the Route 59 Metra station.

Greyhound is launching a new route between Chicago and Davenport, Iowa, that will travel along I-88.

The route will stop in DeKalb, home of the main NIU campus, as well as Rochelle, Dixon and Moline.

This week, the Naperville City Council approved a license agreement with Greyhound to allow the service to stop in the east parking lot at the Route 59 Metra station.

Greyhound spokeswoman Lanesha Gipson said the new route is in response to increased customer demand in cities between Davenport and Chicago, including Naperville.

"We also wanted to add service in Naperville to offer Northern Illinois University students who travel to Naperville from DeKalb an affordable, convenient and reliable transportation option," Gipson said.

The new service will make four stops in Naperville each day - two heading west and two heading east - and it will pick up riders along the sidewalk leading to the Metra platform at the south end of the east parking lot.

Riders already can board buses from Greyhound and Trailways at the 4th Avenue Metra station near downtown Naperville, said Jennifer Louden, transportation team leader. So this new service won't be the first national bus connection in the city.

But it will "provide an additional regional transportation option," Louden said in a memo.

City employees will gather ridership information for the new route and tell the city council how many people used it in a year.