A few weeks ago, people started showing up every day at social service agency Van Go asking to take shelter while they waited for their Greyhound bus.

The riders were unsure of where it would stop — the Greyhound website listed the Lawrence pick-up and drop-off spot as the intersection of Seventh and New Jersey streets — and they were looking for a place to use a telephone, the restrooms and to get out of the cold, said Van Go’s executive director, Lynne Green.

Green said the small nonprofit at 715 New Jersey St. “is not equipped” to house the bus riders, and she wasn’t notified when Greyhound changed its location.

“We’ve become a de facto bus stop here,” Green said. “All of a sudden people started showing up at our door saying they needed a warm place to hang out while they waited for the bus. It’s really not their fault; they don’t know what to do. We don’t want people standing out in the cold, but we feel a little overwhelmed over here.”

The city’s public works director, Chuck Soules, said Greyhound moved its temporary location to the Santa Fe Depot at the city’s recommendation after the closure of Sixth Street gas station Pick & Pay, which had been its pick-up and drop-off spot.

A bus stops at the location three times each day.

The depot, currently owned by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, remains closed much of the time, and Green said there was no sign in the area indicating it was a temporary Greyhound stop.

“They contacted us asking what the city could do to help find some place because they couldn’t make arrangements anywhere else,” Soules said. “We thought they’d just stop on the street, load and unload passengers and move on, which I think is what they do, other than their passengers are showing up early.”

Soules said he would take to the Lawrence City Commission next week a request to move the temporary spot from Seventh and New Jersey to a bus stop near Sixth and New Hampshire streets, in front of Riverfront Plaza.

At the same time, Greyhound is currently working to find a new permanent stop in Lawrence, Soules said.

Greyhound is attempting to enter into an agreement with a business close to Interstate 70, Soules said. The bus service has told the city it’s contacted several businesses in North Lawrence, but Soules did not know Wednesday whether an agreement had been reached.

Soules said the Sixth and New Hampshire spot would be a “temporary solution until Greyhound gets something else figured out.”

“They’re trying to find a place; it’s just hard,” Soules said. “It’s not a lot of business, maybe a couple of people three times a day. It’s not a big money generator for anybody who wants to allow them to use their property. Hopefully by next week, we’ll have the solution.”

The city first heard of Van Go’s concerns at the City Commission meeting Tuesday, when Vice Mayor Leslie Soden said she had heard from staff that Greyhound riders were using the nonprofit’s facility to take shelter.

Soden said she hadn’t known of the relocation of the bus stop until learning about it from Van Go.

“Van Go is housing the Greyhound riders, and I think that’s something that’s asking too much for Van Go to do,” Soden said. “I’m shocked how they could just do this and none of us know about it. I was really disappointed about it.”

Interim City Manager Diane Stoddard said at the meeting Tuesday that Greyhound was an “important transportation element” for the community.

“They probably need some help and ideas from us,” she said.