Greyhound Downtown Buffalo Station connection

One Greyhound ticket, one flight, but two separate transfers

There is no dedicated Greyhound–BUF shuttle; you stitch this together with NFTA Metro Bus or a 10–15 minute Uber/Lyft ride between Buffalo Niagara International Airport and the downtown Greyhound/FlixBus station at 181 Ellicott Street. Local transit fans quote this as the cheap move; rideshare is the “pay to not think about it” option.

From downtown, the basic play is NFTA route 24 – Genesee, which runs between the Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center and the airport terminal stops on Airport Departures Rd. Depending on time of day, you’re looking at roughly a 35–45 minute bus ride and a fare in the typical NFTA city-bus range rather than airport premium pricing. Riders posting in r/buffalo call it “not elegant but cheap.”

Rideshare from the Greyhound station to BUF usually lands in the $20–$30 range before tip, with drive time around 10–15 minutes in light traffic via NY-33. That’s the move people recommend if your Greyhound is due in after about 20:00 or if weather has a history of delaying that route. One Reddit thread spells it out directly: don’t bet a flight on the last evening bus.

Regulars in Buffalo transit threads say they build at least a 2–3 hour buffer between a scheduled Greyhound arrival downtown and their scheduled flight from BUF. They’ve had too many nights where a bus rolls in an hour late and the last practical NFTA trip is gone, forcing an unplanned Uber anyway. That’s the pattern in multiple posts spanning 2022–2024.

Step-by-step from BUF to Greyhound downtown

• 1. Land at BUF and clear baggage; plan 20–30 minutes from gate to curb.
• 2. Walk to the signed NFTA bus stops on the departures/arrivals loop in front of the terminal; look for route 24 – Genesee.
• 3. Pay the standard NFTA fare (carry small bills or a pass) and ride about 35–45 minutes toward the Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center.
• 4. Get off at the downtown terminal stop on Ellicott Street; Greyhound and FlixBus use gates here for intercity departures.
• 5. If your flight lands after the last useful 24, order Uber/Lyft from BUF directly to 181 Ellicott St and skip the bus entirely.

Practical tip: if your Greyhound is due in after about 19:00, plan on rideshare to or from BUF and treat the bus as a bonus, not a promise.