Monday the Sparks City Council heard from Greyhound representatives about the plans to move their operations from their building in downtown to Centennial Plaza in Sparks.

For Greyhound, it makes sense to sell the building in downtown Reno, because that property could be used for redevelopment, plus they prefer to operate with other public transportation stations.

"Our customers really want connectivity to intermodal facilities," Chief Operating Officer for Greyhound Bill Blankenship says. "And seamless transportation between first mile, last mile, and middle mile."

They considered moving to the Amtrak station in downtown Reno, but the building was too old and would've cost too much to renovate. Also, the city of Sparks has to allow Greyhound buses to operate at Centennial Plaza.

"Federal laws state that if we use federal funds to build the transportation center, which we did, then we have to be able to accommodate, if we can, any carrier that'd like to come in there," Sparks City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tempore Ron Smith says.

The 4th Street bus station in downtown Reno is at capacity after the Regional Transportation Commission of Washoe County added 17 electric buses to their lineup.

Even after the 13 Greyhound buses are added to Centennial Plaza, the station will still have capacity for one more carrier.

Still, Sparks city council members have concerns.

Councilwoman Charlene Bybee is concerned there is no sufficient parking, even if almost all Greyhound customers are there to drop off or pick up.

Councilman Donald Abbott is concerned that employee parking is promised not to be at Centennial Plaza and Greyhound has not found a spot yet.

At the same time, Greyhound has addressed some areas of concern from the council.

"They're going to have an attendant on-site whenever they have buses coming in or leaving," Smith says. "They're going to have security available."

Greyhound is currently working out the finals details of the lease agreement with RTC, one of several things still left to do.

"I think it's imperative for Greyhound to get through everything we need them to do," Smith says. "Because they have to be up and running by December 3rd is the latest, because they lose their spot in Reno. So they've got to have somewhere to offload these buses."

Greyhound will give Sparks City Council quarterly updates to address problems as they arise. Blankenship says there is a chance they begin operations before December 3rd, but that would be the absolute last day they would move in.