The construction of the Homeless navigation center in the east of Prince William County moved a little closer on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, with a unanimous vote to approve a zoning map amendment to use five parcels of land owned by the county for the center’s construction.

The land near Potomac Mills mall contains the OmniRide transit center, the regional bus hub, and Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission offices. The north portion of these five parcels, fronting Potomac Mills Road, is the former site of the Bill Mehr Drop-In Center, which provides meals, showers, and opportunities to connect and interact socially. The drop-in center is temporarily located at the Ferlazzo Building, a county government office complex on Route 1 in Woodbridge.

The county plans to demolish the old drop-in shelter and its parking lot and construct a new homeless shelter.

The west and south portions of these five parcels contain the location of the OmniRide bus storage yard, maintenance building, and employee parking. In the southeast portion is the county-owned building and its associated parking, which is currently occupied and operated by
Social Services will remain.

This site already contains a one-story former shelter that will be demolished and replaced with a new structure. Eventually, all five parcels of land will be consolidated.

The Prince William County Planning Commission and staff have reviewed the proposal, and both favored and recommended its approval.

Prince William County Occoquan Supervisor Kenny Boddye thanked the planning department for their work and said the project “was long overdue and needs to be moving faster.”

Coles District Supervisor Yesli Vega echoed those same thoughts but also wondered when proposals would be put forth for a homeless navigation center in the west of the County as outlined in the action strategy.

According to the county’s comprehensive plan, adopted December 13, 2022, the county plans to “open homeless navigation centers in eastern and western Prince William County to increase the County’s ability to respond to emergent needs of people experiencing homelessness.

Several homeless shelters assist individuals and families in need in Prince William County and Manassas.

The Bill Mehr Drop-In Center, located at 15941 Donald Curtis Drive, the Ferlazzo Building, in Woodbridge, offers meals, showers, and various support services to help with health, employment, education, and housing needs.

The Hilda Barg Homeless Prevention Center, at 14945 Jefferson Davis Highway in Woodbridge, provides a year-round shelter for families and single adults, offering case management and job readiness programs.

The Ferlazzo Emergency Shelter, also located at 15941 Donald Curtis Drive in Woodbridge, serves single adults with a focus on providing assistance to navigate the system and access support programs.

Additionally, the Beverly Warren Emergency Shelter, operated by Action in Community Through Services (ACTS) in Dumfries, offers an 18-bed shelter for women and families with housing-focused case management.

The SERVE Family Shelter, operated by Northern Virginia Family Services (NVFS) in Manassas, provides a 90-bed emergency shelter for families and single adults, focusing on housing-focused case management.

Finally, the Supportive Shelter, operated by StreetLight Community Outreach Ministries in Woodbridge, offers eight beds. It caters to individuals with medical challenges or disabilities, focusing on immediate needs and permanent housing solutions.

In September 2020, Prince William County officials tried to use federal coronavirus funds to establish a homeless shelter in Dumfries. However, County Supervisor Andrea Bailey, representing the Potomac District encompassing Dumfries, requested the town’s Planning Commission to remove a request for consideration for the project from its agenda to amend zoning ordinances to allow the homeless shelter in the town’s B1 zoning district.

The reason behind Bailey’s request remains undisclosed.

Discussion about the planned homeless shelter was also quashed at the Dumfries Town Council’s agenda. Negotiations had commenced with the owners of Grace Church, located at 1006 Williamstown Boulevard, for the potential purchase of the church to convert it into a shelter.

In the end, Grace Church purchased a property about a mile away, at the corner of Route 234 and Van Buren Road, and built a new facility. The building that was to become the homeless shelter now houses the Prince William Campus of Potomac Valley Church.

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OmniRide: “OmniRide will hold an Extended Season of Giving Food Drive January 16 – January 19 in an effort to be a good partner in service to the community. In addition to accepting non-perishable donations on the buses, the organization will be accepting non-perishables in-person at several local government locations, and monetary donations online at the organization’s website.”

“The food drive will help to replenish shelves at local food pantries – one on each side of Prince William County. ACTS is on the east end of the county in Dumfries, and in addition to providing food assistance, offers utility assistance, programs to address domestic and sexual abuse, suicide prevention, and more. SERVE is in Manassas and provides food, shelter, utility assistance, services in foster care and adoption, health and dental services, mental health services, and more.”

Regional transit providers OmniRide and Virginia Railway Express will modify services for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

In observance of the holidays, OmniRide buses will operate as follows:

OmniRide Local and Prince William Metro Express bus services (Eastern PWC routes) will operate regular Sunday service on Christmas Eve, Sunday 12/24

All OmniRide bus services – no service on Christmas Day, Monday 12/25

All OmniRide bus services – will operate as normally scheduled, Tuesday 12/26

OmniRide Local and Prince William Metro Express bus services (Eastern PWC routes) will operate regular Sunday service on New Year’s Eve, Sunday 12/31

All OmniRide bus services – no service on New Year’s Day, Monday, 1/1

OmniRide Express bus service – will operate as normally scheduled, Tuesday, 1/2

The Transit Center lobby will be closed, but Customer Service will be available by phone and email on Sunday, December 24 and Sunday, December 31.

OmniRide Local passengers wishing to schedule an off-route trip for Tuesday, December 26th should call Customer Service by 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 24th.

For off-route trips on Tuesday, January 2, call by 4:30 p.m. December 31.

OmniRide provides commuter bus service for residents in Prince William, Spotsylvania, and Stafford counties, as well as local transit services for people in Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park.

Meanwhile, VRE will not run trains on Christmas, Monday, December 25, 2023, or New Year’s Day, Monday, January 1, 2024. The commuter railroad will run half its regular schedule from Tuesday, December 26 to Friday, December 29, 2023, running trains on an “S” schedule.

VRE doesn’t operate trains on the weekends yet. As we told you on Tuesday, December 19, 2023, the commuter railroad’s operations board approved its 2025 budget, and in it, for the first time in the railroad’s 31-year history, is a plan for Saturday service on both the Fredericksburg and Manassas lines.

Fredericksburg area commuters have three more options for the trip up Interstate 95, including launching three new OmniRide Express buses to the Pentagon, Arlington, and the State Department in Washington, D.C.

The buses are fully funded by the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, and they will provide a commuting option for residents south of the newly extended I-95 Express Lanes. It’s the first time since OmniRide’s founding in 1986 that it has provided service to Spotsylvania County and southern Stafford County, bolstering the agency’s status as a regional bus operator.

“Today is a great example of DRPT’s mission in action,” said Todd Horsley, the Alternate PRTC Commissioner at the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Commonwealth Drive Commuter Lot in Spotsylvania County.

For the next month, riders may use the new bus lines for free. After January 12, there will be a $9 one-way fee.

The I-95 E-Z Pass Express Lanes helped make it all possible, said Perrin Palistrant, the director of planning and service delivery at OmniRide. “Without the express lanes, it would have been difficult to facilitate this.”

The express lanes on I-95, I-495, and I-66 are toll lanes that are free for vehicles with three or more passengers. This is to facilitate carpooling and buses, reducing the overall number of cars on these roads.

Officials looked at the growth in the Stafford and Spotsylvania counties and Fredericksburg, so they put in an overall order for 29 new buses to serve those counties.

Some of those buses were replacing older buses. They were paid for as part of a $21 million funding arrangement with Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board.

The buses each have 57 seats, and each set of seats has access to a set of plugs so the riders can charge their electronic devices or work during the ride.

The Commonwealth Drive lot is one of several park-and-ride lots in the I-95 corridor that commuters use to catch buses or carpools. The park and ride lot at Horner Road in Prince William County is the most popular VDOT lot, followed by the lot at Route 234.

Officials expect this Fredericksburg area lot to get a lot more use soon.

Here are the new lines:

• Bus 541 – Stafford to Washington (State Dept) express
• Bus 923 – Spotsylvania – Navy Yard express
• Bus 932 – Falmouth – Pentagon/Rosslyn/Ballston/ Crystal City express

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported HOV rules for the I-66 E-ZPass Express Lanes.

Regional transit provider OmniRide will begin serving new destinations, and it won't be long before customers may ride on new buses.

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OmniRide’s Service Change will take effect on Monday, December 11. The organization will add three new routes from Fredericksburg to North Stafford using the I-95 E-ZPass Express Lanes extension.

OmniRide will add Stafford to the State Department and Spotsylvania and Falmouth routes to the Pentagon and destinations in D.C.

Some OmniRide Express routes will be renumbered.

– The new schedules will be available online and from bus operators starting today, Monday, December 4.

– Routes not listed below do not have any timetable, route name, or map changes.

NEW ROUTES: (Schedules available here)

• Stafford (Rte 630) to State Department/Washington (541)
• Spotsylvania to Pentagon/L’Enfant/Navy Yard (923)
• Falmouth to Pentagon/Rosslyn/Ballston – with transfer to Crystal City (932)

THE FOLLOWING ROUTES HAVE CHANGES:

OmniRide Express

• Dale City – Washington (D-100) – NOW 971

Timepoint adjustments for AM trips

• Dale City – Pentagon & Rosslyn/Ballston/Crystal City (D-200) – NOW 972

Timetable adjustments for PM trips

• Dale City – Navy Yard (D-300) – NOW 563
• Timetable adjustments for PM trips
• Montclair – Washington (MC-100) – NOW 953
• Montclair – Pentagon (MC-200) – NOW 952
• Lake Ridge – Pentagon/Washington (L-100) – NOW 981

Timetable adjustments for PM trips

• Manassas – Washington (601)
• Timetable adjustments for PM trips
• Gainesville-Pentagon / L’Enfant Plaza / Navy Yard (612)
• Timetable adjustments for AM and PM trips
• Stafford-Pentagon (942)
• Trips added to AM and PM schedules

OmniRide Metro Express

Prince William Metro Express (95)

• Timetable adjustments for PM trips
• Manassas (60)
• Timetable adjustments for AM and PM trips

Contact OmniRide Customer Service at 703-730-6664 or [email protected] for more information.

OmniRide: “Due to road closures for the Holiday Parade, the following local routes will be on detour from the start of morning service [Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023] through 1:00PM. The following routes are impacted:”

Manassas Local North (65N)

• Missed stop (outbound):
• Church St before Center St
  Alternate stop:
• the HUB-Prince William Courthouse

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Press Release: “On Thursday evening, November 30, the annual Christmas Tree Lighting event will occur in Washington, D.C. The planned road closures and increased pedestrian traffic are expected to cause congestion and delays within the D.C. service area.”

“This will cause changes to OmniRide Express P.M. service. OmniRide Express trips that would originate in D.C. will instead start at the Pentagon. Trips will start at the Pentagon at the same time they are scheduled to start from their last D.C. timepoint. Regular fares will be in effect.”

“All other OmniRide Express routes will operate normal service.”

OmniRide will expand its service in Stafford and Spotsylvania counties starting next month.

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