The Burger King is at it again:

This is the third or fourth time he’s tweeted some version of the “Sixers arena is displacing the Greyhound terminal” narrative.

The laughable thing is that Howard probably has not been on a Greyhound bus since Richard Nixon was in office. Seriously. When’s the last time you think The King went to a bus terminal or waited on the sidewalk for a ride to New York City? We’re talking about a dude who wears fur coats on the sidelines at the Eagles game. He doesn’t ride the bus and probably hasn’t even been to that part of Market Street in decades.

There’s been quality reporting at length on this topic, rendering Howard’s bus terminal lamentation demonstrably false. The short version is that Greyhound notified the city a long time ago of their plans to find a new location, and so the Sixers included this plot on Filbert Street as part of the arena proposal. If, however, the arena plan is rejected, the terminal site will remain unused until something else replaces it. It is going away regardless of whether 76 Place is or is not built.

Greyhound is currently operating out of storefront on Market between 6th and 7th and passengers are picked up on the sidewalk.


Howard’s fake news storyline suggests that the Sixers had a hand in forcing Greyhound out, which is disproven in the same Billy Penn article he quotes in the tweet:

“The 76ers remain under contract on the parcel of land previously occupied by Greyhound,” a 76 Devcorp spokesperson said. “We are also open to exploring any temporary activation opportunities that could serve the community.”

Is that why Greyhound relocated?

Not necessarily.

Over the past decades, Greyhound has faced increasing competition from newer low-cost transportation companies that avoid using bus stations — which come with all kinds of expenses, like staffing, rent, and upkeep — and pick up from sidewalks and parking lots instead. The need to cut costs apparently contributed to its decision to leave Filbert Street.

One of the people reporting fairly on the Sixers arena is Daniel Pearson at the Inquirer, who has done a good job summarizing the bus thing. In recent tweets, he notes that “Greyhound lost market share to Megabus, which does curbside pickup. They ended up selling to Flixbus, but Flixbus didn’t buy the buildings, only the buses. So they were going to have to move once that sale happened.”

Which brings us back to the same place – if the Sixers don’t build something at the Filbert location, somebody else will. That ultimately renders this entire discussion moot. The bus terminal was toast regardless and everyone knew it. The Sixers knew it, Chinatown knew it, and city officials knew it.

It’s fun to have a laugh at the Burger King, but he has a huge platform and continues to spread fake news about this topic and other topics. Is there no repercussion for that?