OmniRide gets green light for Uber-like commuter lot shuttle service for Haymarket, Gainesville

WOODBRIDGE — Full commuter parking lots in western Prince William County won’t be a problem for would-be transit bus riders for much longer. 

A new $1.1 million program that will allow bus riders to hail an Uber-like ride from their homes to commuter lots in Haymarket and Gainesville was funded Thursday night. The plan — let users hail the rides from their phones, just as they would any other ride-sharing service.

The project, dubbed the On Demand Commuter Shuttle, will fund the implementation of new software that will power the service. Local transit provider OmniRide will provide the service, and was the applicant for the grant.

In addition to providing commuter and local bus service, OmniRide runs a successful ride-matching vanpool service called OmniMatch. Executive Director Bob Schneider told us in the Potomac Local Podcast that this new ride-hailing service is a natural extension for his agency.

“Mobility in the region, that’s what the number one conversation you’re having right now in transportation. How are you going to dovetail the desire for less car ownership? People want…to drive less. They’re trying to work and live near home. While we have a big challenge here, and Prince William County’s strategic plan is trying to grow its economic base so that we don’t export as many workers…,” Schneider told us.

And, for OmniRide, this will be much different than running a bus service that relies on fixed stops and routes. While the system’s OmniLink local bus has always allowed for off-route deviation stops up to three-quarters of a mile from the regular bus route, this new service won’t use a fixed route on a map.

It’s expected that this service won’t compete with other ride-sharing services.

“Uber struggles to have consistent vehicles available for the Prince William County area. People tend to leave [the county] every day and there aren’t a whole lot of trips to be made [in the county vs. the urban core in Washington, D.C.]” said Schneider.

Listen to the entire conversation. 

 The project still needs approval from the Commonwealth Transportation Board in Richmond before work can begin. Afterward, the ride-hailing service in western Prince William should be operational by July 2019.

The new program is part of a $12 million package of transportation improvements funded by the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission designed to take more cars off Interstate 66, to make more room for toll-paying customers who use the E-ZPass Express Lanes inside the Capital Beltway.

Work on the I-66 E-ZPass Express Lanes outside the Beltway is underway. Those four new lanes and new improvements to bridges, and additional commuter lots between Haymarket and Dunn Loring are expected to open by 2022.