OmniRide bus ridership 60% below pre-pandemic levels potomaclocal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from potomaclocal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
What’s open, what’s closed and what else is changing? WTOP has your back, as always.
Public schools
All public school districts in the WTOP listening area will be closed for Presidents Day. Students and teachers have the day off. Enjoy!
Mail, package delivery
Since the
U.S. Postal Service follows a federal holiday structure, all of its buildings and shipping services will be closed for Presidents Day.
UPSpickup and delivery services and UPS store locations will be open; note that SurePost and Mail Innovations packages in transit will need an extra business day for delivery.
FedExwill also ship and deliver as normal, with only Express and SmartPost services on a modified schedule.
Stafford wants to keep OmniRide bus service despite declining ridership
Stafford leaders want to keep OmniRide Express bus service.
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors recently approved an application to continue commuter bus service running from a commuter lot at the intersection of Staffordboro Boulevard and Route 610 in north Stafford. An import from Prince William County in 2019, OmniRide Express buses ferry commuters to and from Pentagon and Washington D.C.
If regional officials agree to continue funding the bus service, it would mean a fresh injection of funds for the two bus routes that serve the commuter lot. It costs about $900,000 per year to operate the buses, OmniRide states.
Updated: OmniRide runs regular service today, cancels emergency plans
Updated at December 23, 2020 - Uriah Kiser
Updated
OmniRide told us today just before 2 p.m. that the transit agency was able to operate regular service and did not active its emergency service plan, as it had planned to do on Friday, December 11, 2020.
“OmniRide ran regular service today because we determined early this morning that we had a sufficient number of bus operators to run regular service,” said OmniRide spokeswoman Christine Rodrigo.
The emergency service plan was a precaution after OmniRide had witnessed other regional transit agencies experience a high volume of drivers call out sick, including the Greater Richmond Transit Company in Richmond.