Thanks to Bieber, buses rolling again in Norristown

Emerging from two years of the no-bus blues, SEPTA's barren bus terminal at its Norristown Transportation Center (NTC) has finally shucked off the King of Prussia Curse.

The stalls are alive with the sound of buses! The surreal backstory is right out of "CSI: Norristown."

In June 2008, SEPTA opened its $18 million, 522-space NTC parking garage and regional bus terminal with "Capitol Trailways," "Greyhound" and "Martz Trailways" in huge, silver letters on its burnt-orange brick facade.

But just as the terminal opened, its anchor tenant, Capitol Trailways, went bankrupt.

So until last year, brown paper covered the windows of the deserted space that was supposed to be Norristown's new terminal.

And regional buses continued to run out of the dumpy King of Prussia Bus Terminal, with its eight plastic chairs - four black, four orange - and two vending machines.

Then Carl R. Bieber Inc., which owns and operates Bieber Tourways buses, bought the bankrupt Capitol Trailways, finished building the Norristown terminal, took the brown paper off the windows last month and breathed life into Sleeping Beauty.

Now, 900 passengers a week board regional buses in Norristown, and ride to New York City, Harrisburg, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Penn State, Kutztown, Philadelphia, Reading, York and galaxies far, far away.

That's in addition to the NTC's 6,000 weekday riders on Regional Rail, the Route 100 Norristown High Speed Line and eight SEPTA bus routes.

The King of Prussia Terminal is shuttered. All of its bus lines have moved to Norristown.

Today, state, Montgomery County, Norristown and SEPTA officials will celebrate the birth of the Bieber Tourways Bus Terminal at the NTC.

"It's a miracle," said Rochelle Culbreath, SEPTA's public- and government-affairs liaison, who has den-mothered this project from the git-go.

"You can now go anywhere across the country from Norristown. The access is unbelievable for this town," said Culbreath, the former Norristown Council president. "It's really a miracle. It makes me very proud."