Beyond the bus: OmniRide’s new role on the Potomac River

WOODBRIDGE — OmniRide will administer a $4.2 million grant to help someday launch passenger ferry service in Woodbridge.

The move marks the first expansion into modes of transportation outside of transit buses and vanpools.

The passenger ferry would operate on the Occoquan and Potomac rivers and provide passenger service between Woodbridge and Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C.

The $4.2 million in funds will be used for capital projects such as new docks, covered passenger waiting areas, and bus stops for transit buses that would carry passengers to and from the ferry stop. The federal grant has a local $845,000 local match requirement that will be satisfied by riverside property owners in Woodbridge who will provide an in-kind donation of dock access and parking spaces for the new ferry stop.

The money won’t be used for river dredging or to build new infrastructure.

OmniRide will seek additional grant funding to hire a part-time employee to manage the grant. Some of that funding could come from federal sources or from local governments that could benefit from the new passenger ferry service, such as Prince William County.

Woodbridge District Supervisor Frank Principi has championed this project over the years. He says high-speed catamaran boats capable of carrying 300 to 400 passengers, traveling at about 45 mph will be used for the service when it is eventually launched. No such launch date has been announced.

A single round-trip ride on the ferry was estimated in 2017 to cost $30 without government subsidy.

“When the issue came up, I voted against it every chance I got,” Prince William County Coles District Supervisor Marty Nohe told Principi. He now supports the ferry, and he joined fellow Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commissioners in unanimously approving the effort have OmniRide administer the ferry grant. “Frank, you’ve taken this project further than I ever thought you would.”

Other local leaders applauded Principi, who has made the ferry a central campaign issue since the late 2000s.

“Mr. Principi, you have worked a miracle. This will be the only commute service that serves coffee,” said PRTC Commission Chairman and Occoquan District Supervisor Ruth Anderson.

“And beer and wine on the way home,” Principi replied.

A 2009 ferry study warned frequent debris and ice on the Potomac River could hamper service. During these times, OmniRide buses would be used to temporarily supplant ferry service.