Residents asked to weigh in on OmniRide plan to replace Manassas Park bus service

A local bus route in Manassas Park may soon be a thing of the past.

We’ve been reporting on this story since last fall.

Local bus provider OmniRide is considering replacing the local 68 Route bus, which runs from Downtown Manassas, down the Mathis Avenue corridor, down Liberia Avenue. Afterward, the bus enters Manassas Park City and serves the city’s community center, city hall, and the Manassas Park Virginia Railway Express station.

The 68 bus is the least used of the seven OmmiRide Local buses serving Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park. In December, the 68 bus carried 863 passengers, averaging about three per hour.

By comparison, Route 65 and 67 traveling between Downtown Manassas and the Northern Virginia Community College Manassas Campus carried more than 4,000 passengers that same month.

The most utilized local bus in the OmniRide system, the Woodbridge route serving, a loop running along Route 1, Old Bridge Road in Lake Ridge, to Potomac Mills mall, carried nearly 14,000 people in December.

According to OmniRide, converting the 68 bus to Microtransit would be a more efficient, cost-effective, and flexible way to provide transportation in Manassas Park.

Like Lyft or Uber, Microtransit allows riders to book a ride through their phone or by calling OmniRide’s Customer Service office. Instead of a bus, riders are driven in vans. Upon request, a van would be dispatched to pick up passengers and deliver them to their destination.

OmniRide will hold a public hearing to gain better insight into possible demand for this type of transportation on March 16, 9 to 11 a.m. at Manassas Park City Hall, 1 Park Center Court.