Norristown's bus-boom hopes hit a speed bump

LONG-SUFFERING Norristown natives were thrilled last spring when SEPTA opened its $18 million, high-rise parking garage and regional bus terminal at its Norristown Transportation Center.

The NTC serves 6,000 weekday riders who use the R6 Regional Rail line, the Route 100 Norristown High Speed Line and eight SEPTA bus routes.

The new garage's 522 spaces, at $3 a night, turned a chronic parking shortage into an open invitation to automobile commuters to spend the evening on Main Street, dining and going to the theater before heading home.

The sleek steel-and-glass garage's high-intensity lights projected a safe, secure glow on surrounding streets all night long.

And SEPTA's new regional bus terminal promised to add thousands of additional travelers who might spend the evening and their money on Main Street - a once-bustling commercial strip that has been dead since the King of Prussia mall opened in the 1960s.

The words "Capitol Trailways," "Greyhound," and "Martz Trailways" are emblazoned in huge silver letters on the new bus terminal's burnt-orange, glazed-brick facade.

Capitol Trailways had agreed to be the SEPTA terminal's anchor tenant, paying $1,562 a month for the first three years of the lease. That's $1,562 a month for a bus terminal, not a Center City one-bedroom apartment.

The monthly rent would not reach $2,000 until the 28th year of the lease.

PennDOT, which helped finance the terminal, had half a million dollars waiting for Capitol Trailways to pay for outfitting the interior.

It was a sweetheart deal that no bus company could refuse - unless, of course, the company went bankrupt.

SEPTA opened the new bus terminal amid great fanfare last June - just as Capitol Trailways was going bankrupt.

Today, six months after the grand opening, large sheets of brown paper cover the bus terminal windows, except where a corner of one sheet has peeled away, revealing the deserted interior of the new ticketing and waiting area.

There's nothing there.

There are no buses in the boarding area. No passengers. No luggage. No signs of life.

In late December, federal bankruptcy court approved the sale of Capitol Trailways to another regional bus company, Carl R. Bieber Inc., for $2.65 million.

SEPTA is waiting for the sale to go through to see if Bieber will move to the new terminal.

Norristown is waiting for this final piece of its revitalization dream to fall into place.

Riders of Capitol Trailways (operating in bankruptcy), Greyhound and Martz Trailways are still arriving two miles away in the dingy old King of Prussia Bus Terminal that features eight plastic chairs - four black, four orange - on ancient linoleum, two vending machines and a ticket counter with a handwritten poster that reads, "You Must Pay to Park Your Vehicle On This Property!"

There is a small ledge at the base of the ticket counter. A handwritten sign above it reads: "LEDGE." Another sign reads: "Do Not Step Up On Ledge."

Outside, a planter filled with stones runs the length of the small building. On a recent weekday, it contained a bucket overflowing with cigarette butts, one orange traffic cone, one dark blue glove, two empty cigarette packs - one Newport, one Salem - and one empty Minute Maid orange juice bottle. No plants.

Managers at Bieber Tourways and at Capitol Trailways did not respond to Daily News requests for comment on whether they would move their operations to the new Norristown terminal.

While the hoped-for arrival of thousands of regional bus travelers remains on hold, Norristown natives - who have seen deserted main drags rise from the dead in Phoenixville, Ambler and Souderton, transformed by mass transit, theater and eateries - hope that their Main Street is next.

Norristown Borough Councilwoman Linda Christian and former Council President Rochelle Culbreath, both of whom have enough high-wattage positive energy to make "Annie" look like a skeptic, stood in the deserted new bus terminal recently and said that, despite the delay in landing a regional bus line, their hometown is on the road to recovery, thanks to the Norristown Transportation Center and its new garage.

"Six thousand people come through here by bus and train every day," said Culbreath, who is now SEPTA's public and government affairs liaison. "We don't want them to just get into their cars and zoom away.

"Go see a play just two blocks from the SEPTA parking garage at the Montgomery County Cultural Center on DeKalb. Walk another block or two to Main Street and have a great meal at August Moon (Japanese/Korean) or Taqueria La Michoacana (Mexican).

"Or walk over to Lou's Sandwich Shop or Gus's Steak Shop for a zep. I mean, you can't say you've been to Norristown if you haven't had a zep. Once you've had a Norristown zep, you'll be back for more."

A puzzled Daily News reporter said, "A zep?"

"Like the best hoagie you ever ate, without the lettuce," Culbreath said.

"Before you go home after work," Christian chimed in, "have dinner on Main Street and see a play, then walk a couple of well-lit blocks back to the Norristown Transportation Center and garage. Now, you've had the Norristown experience."

"Stay awhile," Culbreath said warmly.

"Better yet, buy a home," Christian said, extending the welcome far beyond the zep.

"There's no reason why the stores that survive on 69th Street can't survive here on Main Street," Culbreath said. "No reason at all." *