After revenue losses during the shutdown, OmniRide aims to be more nimble

WOODBRIDGE — OmniRide felt the sting of the latest partial government shutdown.

Ridership on OmniRide express commuter buses fell 15.6 percent from January 1st through the 25th. That comes to a loss of 788 passengers per day and resulted in the loss of $5,169 per day in fare revenue.

Now the transit service is taking steps to implement lessons learned from the Federal Government shutdown. It is now looking into how the transit service can be more flexible should a major regional event like the shutdown occur again, and how to take those events into consideration when adjusting fares.

At the February 7 meeting of the PRTC Board of Directors, Executive Director Bob Schneider was directed to work up details about how the fares would be adjusted to avoid a budgetary strain due to the loss of revenue.

Schneider was also directed to make determinations on how a different fare structure or service structure would be implemented. He’s expected to provide more detailed information at a March 7 meeting of the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Board of Commissioners.

“The partial government shutdown had a small negative effect on our budget, but it won’t have a long-lasting impact. We have money in reserve, and some other regular expenses such as fuel costs have been lower than expected this year so we’ll be able to absorb the revenue loss from the shutdown,” commented PRTC Public Relations Specialist Christine Rodrigo.

The saving grace that kept OmniRide’s revenue from dropping further through the shutdown was the lower price of gasoline. According to the American Automobile Association, the price of gasoline in Northern Virginia last month was about $2.20. This was slightly over the statewide average of $2.03.  

The Potomac Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC) or  Between December 21, 2018, and January 25, 800,000 federal employees were either furloughed or were required to work without pay.

The results of declining ridership in February won’t be available until the end of the month.

According to the New York Times, there have been 21 shutdowns of the Federal Government since 1976. This latest shutdown lasted 34 days and became the longest shutdown in American History. The previous record holder was the 21-day shutdown in 1995 under President Bill Clinton.

The shutdown ended when President Donald Trump signed a bill that allowed the Government to fund agencies until February 15.