OmniRide takes a page from Uber’s book, proposes on-demand commuter lot service

HAYMARKET — Has OmniRide been reading Uber’s playbook?

The transit agency proposes using ride-sharing technology to hail a shuttle van for a ride to a commuter lot.

The $1.1 million project would serve the Haymarket and Gainesville neighborhoods and help free up parking spaces at crowded commuter lots.

Drivers would use software that would allow them to get real-time commuter requests for rides, and then use the same software to route them to that rider, similar to ride-sharing services Uber or Lyft. OmniRide says the funds would pay for the vehicles, hardware, and promotion of the new service that could be operational as early as July 2019.

A similar project would use technology to allow riders to request a one-time ride in a vanpool. Riders who aren’t registered or unregistered with a vanpool would be able to use the desktop and smartphone software to request and pay for a vanpool ride.

The $317,600 project would take more cars off the lanes of I-66, help to drive down tolls, and could be operational by May 2019.

OmniRide hopes to fund the projects from monies from the Interstate 66 Inside the Beltway toll lanes Commuter Choice program. Multiple local governments and transit agencies in Northern Virginia submitted requests for the annual program that doles out funding for projects designed to take drivers off  I-66, making way for more toll-paying drivers behind the wheels of their cars.

In addition to the on-demand services, OmniRide also proposed two new projects that would provide expanded bus service in western Prince William County

The first is a $1.1 million project to add 14 new daily trips between Manassas and the Tysons Corner Metro station between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The transit agency says the new service would encourage peak-hour ridership and transit use in general.

OmniRide’s addition of midday and peak-period reverse-commute bus service between Manassas and the Tysons Corner Metrorail station would increase transit options, adding 14 daily trips from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Such service expansion has been proven effective in encouraging and reinforcing peak hour ridership and transit use in general, according to OmniRide’s proposal.OmniRide takes a page from Uber’s book, proposes on-demand commuter service

The buses would serve the Manassas Virginia Railway Express station, as well as stops on Route 28 in Yorkshire. If funded, the service could be operational by August.

There’s also a $134,200 request to add an additional morning and evening trip on the Linton Hall Metro Direct route that serves the Limestone Park and Ride lot in Gainesville, taking commuters to and from the Tysons Corner Metro station. The transit agency says the service could also be up and running by August if funded.

The I-66 Commuter Choice project fundings awards will be announced in May.