Long-Route Commuter Bus Service Pilot Moves Forward | News

A pilot program to provide long-range commuter bus service from Dale City and Frederick, MD, received endorsement from the Board of Supervisors’ finance committee Tuesday night.
The service is intended to reduce congestion on the county’s roads by offering mass transit options to those commuting into the county for work.
In October, supervisors heard results from a survey, conducted by Michael Baker Internation, to identify which locations the pilot program should include and the estimate the cost of the service.
Consulting representative Nick Britton told the board then that they reviewed 10 counties including Jefferson and Berkley in West Virginia, Frederick and Montgomery in Maryland and Frederick, Clarke, Warren, Fauquier, Prince William and Stafford in Virginia.
The survey identified Dale City and Warrenton as the ideal pilot locations because they have a lower average cost per trip than the other routes and because they are expected to have a high ridership rate.
On Tuesday, supervisors decided to move forward with Dale City and Frederick, MD.
The survey showed annual ridership for Frederick to be an estimated 7,996 trips, positioning it as second to last out of the seven identified starting points. Dale City ranked at the top with an estimated 53,419 trips a year, and Warrenton ranked second with an estimated 49,345 annual trips.
However, Committee Chair Matthew F. Letourneau (R-Dulles) said there were additional factors to consider, such as the ease of the drive from Warrenton and the planned constriction along Rt. 15, the primary corridor from Frederick, in the next few years.
“I really kind of want to test those numbers because the analysis is telling us that Dale City is going to do really well and Frederick is not. Intuitively that’s not really what I think is going to happen, but we kind of need to sort of baseline here and then we’ll see what happens,” he said.
County Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large) said she agreed that testing both ends of the spectrum was a good idea.
“Frederick is hard because it feels like we should be asking them to pony up some of this money,” she said. “Yes, these are people who are working in Loudoun; thus they are constituents because they’re working here, but they’re living in Maryland. … so it just seems like there should be some shared costs here. That’s giving me heartache, that we’re going to basically send money not into just another county, but another state.”
But, the possibility of reducing fatal traffic accidents along Rt. 15 by relieving traffic congestion is worth it, she said.
The committee agreed with the staff recommendation to set the fee at $8.25 per trip. That was set based on the estimate that on average, long route commuters spend $200 per month on commuting travel expenses.
The cost to try out the Dale City route, with three departure and arrival times is estimated at $631,680 for fiscal year 2026. The county expects $110,177 in revenue from that route. Frederick, with two departure and arrival times, is estimated to cost $331,520 in FY 2026. Revenue is expected to be $16,492.
Vice Chair Juli E. Briskman (D-Algonkian) said she would like to see what would happen if the fee was lower than $8.25.
“I think that we might increase ridership if people could actually maybe save some money and what we’re gaining in fees really isn’t that much. I’m not sure how to accomplish or maybe test that,” she said.
Supervisor Kristen C. Umstattd (D-Leesburg) cast the lone vote against supporting the pilot, citing its cost.
“I think this is something that if the private sector companies want this, that’s they could cooperate with each other and provide van pools or other means of getting their employees there, but I’m not sold on the idea of the taxpayers paying this much more in expenses to subsidize this,” she said.
A motion by Letourneau to endorse three routes to Dale City and two to Frederick with a fare of $8.25 per trip passed 4-1. It now moves to the full board for consideration.
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