Was taking the bus back to DC a bad idea?

Suburban transit in the US can already be pretty depressing, but on a Saturday? As we travel from Manassas, Virginia back home to Washington, DC, we're about to find out just how many hoops we have to jump through on cover a distance that really is only about 30 miles. But Omniride, we recognize you're trying, and we're grateful.
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Date of filming: June 1, 2024
Camera: iPhone 15
Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:00 Explaining our route
2:03 Boarding the bus in front of a prison
3:16 Riding Omniride route 96
4:39 Omniride Transit Center
5:20 DISGUSTING TOILETS
5:47 Playing the Waiting Game
7:32 Riding the 95... we think?
8:39 Leaving for real this time
9:53 FINALLY on the Metro back to DC

[@matthewconstantine5015]

The level of hostility reserved for people who use the bus...Just next level.

[@sammymarrco47]

Prince William resident here, the only part of this video that surprised me was the driver training shenanigans, I've never seen that on omniride. I often use route 60 (Manassas to Tysons Metro) to get into the city and that route has never disappointed me except for its poor headways outside of rush hour. The only consolation is that it is free, but the driver training on a scheduled bus with more people than I've ever seen on omniride isn't a good idea. I hope this is a good explainer on why the bus is looked down on in the vast majority of the US. I gotta do this sometime for the lolz.

[@Mpugs]

Omniride 60 ftw

[@davinp]

yes that is suprising to see a driver training on a weekend, but at least it was free

[@WeathermanJohnBiggs]

This experience not the norm.

[@brianhubert8418]

This is a prime example of how the U.S. treats the bus and those who ride it.

[@MilesinTransit]

I think the transit center is located where it is because it's right at the Omniride yard - operationally it's super efficient, but it makes for a pretty crappy rider experience!

[@Thom-TRA]

Yeah that makes sense! And of course the car mentality of putting it wherever you can fit a giant parking lot

[@tyleralberico9340]

@@MilesinTransit I could be wrong, but I remember they had a shoestring budget when service started in the 90s, so I think it was a cost savings measure to put everything on the same site

[@Mpugs]

You aren't taking omniride (except maybe local) for the rider experienced but it still has a lot of room for improvement

[@davidrivera9743]

The only other place it makes sense to wait for the Springfield bus is Potomac Mills Mall.

[@airbus7373]

I’ve seen DASH in Alexandria have drivers in training on in service routes. However, the instructors make sure they leave on time and follow the route exactly as a fully trained driver would. Also they only do this with drivers in the final stages of training. They care a lot more about good bus service than PW county does

[@Thom-TRA]

That’s how to do training!

[@joehashbrowns7577]

I’ve seen that on my morning CTA bus quite a bit too, but yeah they’ve always managed to keep everything on time

[@brucearthur5108]

Truly a random assortment of buses stop at the Franconia-Springfield Metro station.

[@moistkiteproductions95556]

I regularly used to take Omniride to get around in Manassas, the Eastern local services (Manassas) suffers from lack of ridership on most routes and departures from the courthouse every 90 minutes. Now the Western services in an around Woodbridge have much more ridership and departures in each direction. 96 is the only bus connection between the two areas but suffers from lack of timed connections with the local bus services. Overall it has potential to be a great bus service if they fixed certain issues. Also you got lucky with free fares on the bus since they were supposed to have brought back fares in June but they often tend to postpone bringing back fares (buses have been free since the pandemic)

[@Thom-TRA]

I think this connection would have been great had there been a better connection. It seems silly to make it that long in both directions.

[@tyleralberico9340]

From what I heard, it actually cost more to administer a fare collection system for local service than the fares they actually collected. Crazy!

[@PiplupJames]

I rarely ride Omniride. I usually ride it when i go to Potomac Mills Mall.

[@robertlunderwood]

Agreed. I only use that when going to Ikea and I don't feel like going to College Park

[@tyleralberico9340]

I did ridership reporting for Omniride last summer and came across a lot of operators that wouldn’t leave on time for seemingly no reason. I asked my supervisor and coworkers what causes something like that they didn’t seem to know why. The biggest thing to note is that Omniride doesn’t actually operate its service, rather they contract out all operations to Keolis. I couldn’t tell you what it’s like now, but the contractor was continually plagued by management issues. I assumed it got better since some higher ups were replaced at the end of when I worked there, so I’m sorry to see this happened to you guys. It’s still nice to see the agency on video, though! I haven’t been back to that office since March.

[@Thom-TRA]

I hope none of this made Omniride look too bad. It’s really just an indictment on how neglected suburban transit is.

[@tyleralberico9340]

@@Thom-TRA oh no, I didn’t think you were being negative! You just told it how it was. I figured the (limited) insight I had might explain a little. Thanks for the video!

[@AML2000]

Keolis is 70% owned by SNCF, the national rail company of France. The other 30% is owned by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the investment arm of the Quebec provincial government. So Omnibus is mostly operated by a nationalized French company.

[@brianhenderson9124]

There's a reason my uncle David despises Keolis. They also had, when he retired, the contract for MBTA commuter rail operations.

[@tyleralberico9340]

@@AML2000 and on that note, I’m pretty sure their team only had experience operating rail transit, as VRE contracts their operations to Keolis. Definitely a big learning curve for them if that’s the case. They previously contracted to first transit, but I think Keolis had a significantly lower bid.

[@WeathermanJohnBiggs]

I enjoyed this video, so thank you for suffering through omniride. Omniride is a decent service for a car centric county like Prince William. I’m happy it exists and the bus routes especially along I-66 are gaining popularity. Sorry that your experience wasn’t the best.

[@Thom-TRA]

I knew going into it it would take a long time! That’s part of the reason why we did it haha

[@northernidaho5750]

Can’t believe Thom was at the transit center in the middle of nowhere for more than 30 minutes for a 40 minute transfer. I thought you were better than this. Also, this whole video feels like a Miles in Transit cheapest way video.

[@Cupertinorail]

Ouch taking a wrong turn while training. That's kind of scary. 3 hours to go thirty miles. Ouch that's trafficgedon in LA.

[@Goldencarddx]

I wanted to go the train fest (as its like 5 minutes driving for me) but I was out of town. I've always been meaning to take and make a video about the omniride routes you've shown here but you beat me to it haha. I really wish the frequency was better for their local and express services because I would definitely utilize it! Anyways thanks for making this video. Ive been a fan since a friend of mine shared me one of your videos. I think it was the abandoned west falls church bus terminal video. Also, that roundabout you passed is probably our first real roundabout if I'm not mistaken. That Grant Ave roundabout has been a controversial topic in the local facebook groups I'm in, but I am glad that it's in place. The road deserves the road diet. (it used to be 4 lanes wide)

[@anthonywarrener1881]

Thank you for this fascinating video ! I had guessed your bus rides would be slow, and your stoicism is to be admired. The fact that both rides were free is amazing, and the 2#dollar fare from Franconia truly staggering - a comparable journey on a European Metro would be at least double that fare. Whilst admiring your stoicism, I have to question why on earth you two didn’t imbibe in a nearby bar, and await the fine special VRE train ? As you say, that train would have got you back to DC at about the same time as your slow bus ride ! Cheers !

[@Thom-TRA]

To be fair, it all took much longer than scheduled. Plus, this was an extreme route we’d always wanted to try!

[@ScottGunMag69]

I live in Manassas and I attended the train event. Sorry I didn’t get to meet you guys as I didn’t know you guys existed. Thanks for the video, I enjoyed it.

[@Thom-TRA]

lol we’ll forgive you

[@alteredstate42]

Buses are awesome! :) You get to meet/see very curious individuals. Like the guy in the pink shirt grooming his hair while you were recording.

[@Thom-TRA]

And they got off at Foggy Bottom too…

[@johnfriel-uj2zs]

Buses 🚌 Are Awesome 👌 Just Like Trains 🚆 😀 Outstanding Video Thank You 😊

[@rikkichunn8856]

Very good, positive coverage of a less-than-stellar ride. I admire your patience and tenacity to try everything!

[@UncommonElevators]

I'm surprised (well, not really) that there's no local bus connection between Manassas and the rest of the 66 corridor in Fairfax County. It looks like the westernmost Fairfax Connector routes end in Centreville. It would be nice for the two counties to work out some service so that people could ride directly to Dulles, Fair Oaks Mall, and Vienna Metro at all hours. The fact that you had to go all the way to Woodbridge is insane.

[@dodge1515]

I agree, just extend FFC routes to Downtown Manassas.

[@artano2582]

I am glad you enjoyed the train fest. I drove down from Alexandria and it was a cool little festival

[@ck4426]

What an awesome adventure you two had!!! The buses seemed awesome as well!!! Very interesting video!!!

[@jonathanbott87]

I'm certain they do passengerless training, but at a certain point they do have to start taking passengers.

[@Thom-TRA]

But do you need to make several loops around the transit center when you’re already 20 minutes late?

[@josephpadula2283]

We need to bring back the interurban from DC to Annapolis ! Annapolis was the only state Capitol In the USA that did not have train service in the days of rail only . It did have an interurban from both Baltimore and DC. Baltimore line has light rail on part of it near Glen Burnie . Annapolis line not used .

[@Boss42n]

Thanks for the video. Too bad you had to experience driver training. Did Omniride let passengers know beforehand that training was going on? You should have hung around Manassas for a while and then traveled back on VRE or AMTRAK. We have some great restaurants and a brewery (Sinistral). I like Omniride. However, I drive to a commuter lot to take an express bus to Ballston (route 622). Route 60, Tyson's Metro Express, is a closer route for me to take, but I would have to transfer from bus to rail; therefore the commute would take longer. Growing up in eastern Pennsylvania, I like Wawa. However, Sheetz is good too; for their hotdogs. I am glad Wawa is in VA. I go there often to fill my car and my belly. 🙂

[@Thom-TRA]

No, they never said anything. Which is why the experience was so unfortunate.

[@joserivera-yc5rr]

Love it, keep them coming if you can, thanks for sharing

[@TheGAMWolferz]

I really hope they can improve. Eventually more people will start moving to Prince William (and Loudon but they have a different Bus tranist) as Fairfax County/City, Arlington, and Alexandria starts to become way too dense and expensive.

[@mrvwbug4423]

Depends on the election. If a certain someone wins the election he's going to decimate the federal workforce. Expect more than 50% of federal workers and contractors to be laid off before the end of 2025. DC Metro area will become a ghost town

[@markdm4805]

So I thought I’d give a little clarification on the training situation. I’ve been a bus driver and now a Supervisor for 20 years. So all agencies do about the same process. The trainee on your bus is not actually learning how to drive a bus. That would be a strict no no. When a trainee learns the actual mechanics of driving a bus that is done with no passengers on board for obvious safety reasons. Once they pass their road test and prove to the safety and training department that they are ready for the road they become the trainee that was on your bus. What you saw is what we call cadeting or route training. It’s impossible that this is done with passengers so that they not only learn the rights and lefts of the route but they get practice interacting with passengers and we as the instructors can see that they are truly ready to be on their own before releasing them to revenue service. As to the 15 minute delay I myself would have informed everyone as to the reason for the delay and how long it would be. It was weird the loop around the station but I don’t work for Omniride so I’m not sure what that was all about.

[@michaelvelik8779]

Wawa if you can, Scheetz if you have to.

[@Thom-TRA]

Love this

[@wifidaybreak]

Looks fun.

[@Thom-TRA]

It was definitely quality time lol

[@SharperTravel]

Does Bryce have his own channel? He's awesome on camera

[@Thom-TRA]

He doesn’t unfortunately

[@brycebundens6866]

I’m flattered😄

[@HSullivan]

wow the purple shirt guy also got off at foggy bottom

[@Thom-TRA]

I know right?

[@Cupertinorail]

Wow Ommiride still uses the older buses. Looks like an early 2000-2010s vehicle made by Gillig. Most transit agencies I know use like New Flyer/late 2010s Gillig/NABI buses alike

[@dodge1515]

Yeah, their newest standard Advantages are from 2016.

[@michaelb9629]

Man that was quite an adventure alright! That seems like a nice looking bus system I’m not sure I’ve heard of before, but it would be worth a try someday.

[@londonwhaley8690]

I enjoyed the video👍👍

[@Thom-TRA]

I'm glad!

[@mrvwbug4423]

You definitely don't see drivers in training on scheduled services on RTD here in Denver, they run special training buses for drivers to learn their routes. They certainly pay them decently here, bus drivers start at $28/hr and light rail train operators start at $31/hr, commuter rail engineers are paid even more, but a contractor operates the commuter rail so the pay scales are not public.

[@davinp]

That is unfortunate that there are limited public transportation options on the weekend in the suburbs. I-95 traffic can be heavy on the weekends. A problem operating on freight rail lines is that the freight company (CSX) limits when VRE trains can operate and unfortunately there are only 2 tracks,

[@Patrickair4444]

So cool bus ride in Virginia

[@history_leisure]

5:22 there are toilets that look like that (at least on the outside) in Madrid, but their doors are curved like on some trains. Didn't have an unfavorable experience with it (might cost, I forget)

[@sirremusrobinson1070]

That's the difference between city bus transit and county bus transit. We normally do driver training on a weekday, that wasn't normal. Weekday travelers wouldn't put up with that as they gotta get to work..

[@robertlunderwood]

I'm from Pittsburgh. Wawa is awful. Go to Sheetz.

[@Thom-TRA]

AND SO IT BEGINS

[@brycebundens6866]

DISAGREE!!!!!!

[@davidrivera9743]

@@robertlunderwood that's why. Until Sheetz comes to North Jersey we won't get to compare the two.

[@VictorKidd53]

Ewwww ya nastyyyy hehehehe waaaawaaaaa all the way!!! But seriously, I like both for their own particular thing!

[@robertlunderwood]

@@davidrivera9743 Sheetz will not be in North Jersey. You need to travel to Sheetz territory to enjoy it.

[@shigemorif1066]

Wawa all the way! Makes me think of Philly, which makes me miss soft pretzels.

[@Thom-TRA]

Is a soft pretzel just a big pretzel like they sell at carts?

[@shigemorif1066]

@@Thom-TRA Yes, that’s the one! The Philly ones from the carts are kind of square. Different from the NYC kind. They sell a version of it as Wawa that is pretty good.

[@MistyOLR]

Wawa! ❤

[@thelaguyinphoenix7837]

I love this style. Although it is similar to the videos from that guy from Boston. Haha!

[@Thom-TRA]

You mean a vlog?

[@davinp]

Omnibus is Prince William County's bus system. Keolis North America operates VRE trains and Omnibus. I've seen an Omini bus at VRE's Woodbridge station. The Woodbridge station has a nice parking garage and a store like the Alexandria station. I live in Woodbrige and take the VRE from Woodbridge to DC to go to work

[@DoubleH2279]

Those buses look a lot like the ones in Worcester

[@EpicThe112]

Very funny video, and for omniride, it should do is look at New Jersey Transit because they still have a frequent suburb to city. Keep in mind some Routes have Monday to Saturday Express services 114X to Bridgewater Commons 165X/168X to Paramus

[@CaradhrasAiguo49]

totally understandable to not want to wait until 20:30 for NE Regional #66. On Saturdays towards D.C. it's just that, Crescent #20, and NE Regional #156 (both in the noon hour)!

[@paulcastillo1310]

Cool video

[@Thom-TRA]

Thanks!

[@paulcastillo1310]

@@Thom-TRA your welcome

[@timothywalker4563]

Northwest Pennsylvania here Sheetz ain’t bad here 😊

[@mikecarrington4297]

Thanks Thom!! Wish it would have been better for you.

[@Thom-TRA]

It’s okay, it was an adventure!

[@mikecarrington4297]

@@Thom-TRA I like that

[@history_leisure]

"Its time for part 2, leaving!"

[@alk61695]

That is silly to train a new bus driver without announcing it to the bus load of passengers who have places to go. You're right, with all that time in between rides, do it then. Also, Wawa is superior to Sheetz.

[@brycebundens6866]

THATS RIGHT!!! GO WAWA!!!

[@AssBlasster]

I liked them way better than any other gas station, like RaceTrac, when they came to Florida.

[@Thommygun-qv7um]

3:40 They build a roundabout in the US? How did that devilish thing got there? JK, I am happy our friends across the ocean starting to adopt them as well. Is that one a unicorn or are there more of those comming? And thanks to Thom for another entertaining and educational training. Gave me a well needed break from work and study...

[@Thom-TRA]

DC itself is full of roundabouts! Only problem is, they all have traffic lights and make traffic much, much worse.

[@Thommygun-qv7um]

@@Thom-TRA Why? That defeats the whole purpose of that thing.... Mythbusters have provon that americans are able to adapt to them...

[@brianhubert8418]

Wow what an odyssey. It is sad to see how our country treats bus services and riders. I hope with the purchase on the Manassas Line VRE Could move more to a 7 days a week Regional Rail model. Maybe perhaps they could use these suburban bus routes as shorter feeders into VRE stations helping to make both systems more useful.

[@Thom-TRA]

Weekend VRE service starting hopefully this winter!

[@brianhubert8418]

Awesome!! That’s great!!

[@kirillboyko9208]

This video is sad and depressing….Unfortunately the abysmal state of public transport is not even a top-10 issue for the Americans right now. So yay, happy 4th of July everyone….😢

[@brianhenderson9124]

Why not both? Sheetz and Wawa, that is. And OmniRide's current naming scheme was introduced during the pandemic. That east-west express you rode on? Before the pandemic, it was the Cross County Connector. And it seems PRTC has taken delivery of new buses since I moved from there. Oh, and I now have family in Woodbridge. My aunt and uncle who had been living in Annapolis for most of my life now live there, not far from the VRE station. I'll be visiting them as part of a tour "back east" around Labor Day weekend. And yes, I will be filming, so be on the lookout for that and other videos from the aforementioned weekend starting mid-September.

[@Thom-TRA]

I’m team both as well haha

[@robertlunderwood]

@@brianhenderson9124 You must not be from Pennsylvania. It's PA's biggest rivalry.

[@brianhenderson9124]

@@robertlunderwood I'm originally from Northern VA, so you got me there. My point stands, however.

[@dfwrider3830]

that notice about 30 minutes of waiting isnt for you. its so they can kick out homeless people who are using the shelter as shelter. without that they could claim they are waiting for a bus. they continue to criminalize homelessness, rather than putting that effort into fixing the cause of the issue.

[@Thom-TRA]

Yeah and the Supreme Court just gave them the green light

[@frankbernotimm3031]

You could experience exactly the same situation in Germany. Maybe, a bicycle would habe been more reliable?

[@Thom-TRA]

Perhaps, though maybe not in this heat

[@mrvwbug4423]

E-bike would certainly have gone 30 miles in less than 3 hours haha.

[@Thom-TRA]

@@mrvwbug4423 I’m not biking for 3 hours in this heat lol

[@JJRol.]

Bus drivers train with passengers at their final stages of training iirc, but this was clearly not that. Still great coverage of a less than pleasant ride. (Also if you have the time for buses I'd love to see more "bus reviews" of DC, especially weird bus routes.)

[@Thom-TRA]

I’m planning a whole series on weird DC bus routes!

[@SnickasBah]

OMG purple shirt's hair.

[@Thom-TRA]

They were a pair, that’s for sure

[@jonathanbott87]

Kwik Trip (not Qwik Trip) is elite

[@Thom-TRA]

Agreed

[@Neville60001]

There needs to be improvement to the commuter service in this part of Maryland, maybe something along the lines of GO Transit, as mentioned by Thom in another video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYasqWOAqNqNoM0

[@Thom-TRA]

Great points, except that this is in Virginia…

[@Neville60001]

@@Thom-TRA, my bad, sorry, I should have checked the video again, thanks for correcting me.

[@NoahBMGO]

Me ov: "oh f*ck I am late"

[@kevanhubbard9673]

No expense spared on those breeze block toilet 🚽 buildings!

[@alexisdespland4939]

their is no intercity buses between nanassa and washington. .

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

So is that bus a regional bus or a greyhound?? is it part of D.C. transit or State transit?

[@Thom-TRA]

It’s part of Omniride. Also known as the Potomac and Rappahanock Transit Commission.

[@peterfrey6062]

Trains are awesome, but ummm buses are NOT. How could you, Thom??? how could you!!! I guess my hatred for buses goes back to when most of Philly's trolleys were busified, and I hated it. Bleh!!

[@Thom-TRA]

Eh trolleys over buses all day any day but we make do with what we have

[@trainglen22]

Buses are awesome also but the service is bad with one bus every hour and a half.

[@guyfaux3978]

The god that protects fools and little children keeps things from becoming a complete disaster!

[@Trainsaregreat365]

So the bus stop is next to the prison

[@Thom-TRA]

Yes it is

[@moistkiteproductions95556]

Well it's actually located behind the courthouse but it is next to a detention center

[@Trainsaregreat365]

@@moistkiteproductions95556 I see

[@ac3115]

3:16 Why would the driver close the plastic barrier like the Covid days? Being a single door bus, it’s a lot of effort to open and close the barrrier to let people on and off. It doesn’t make a lot of stops I guess that’s okay. I have seen transit systems already removed that plastic nowadays.

[@Thom-TRA]

Probably just to not get harassed or something

[@mrvwbug4423]

It protects the driver from unruly passengers.

[@dccavalier]

Thom, what’s the story on the bus being free? Also I hope you reported your story to PRTC.

[@Thom-TRA]

It was a Covid era thing that just stuck. I guess the cost of collecting fares was already pretty high.

[@dccavalier]

@@Thom-TRA ok. So this is a video from a few years back. I am a retired Metro Transit guy so I’m always interested whenever you do videos on local transportation in the DMV.

[@Thom-TRA]

@@dccavalier no, this is a video from 32 days ago.

[@dccavalier]

@@Thom-TRA I thought when you said Covid era it was a few years back. So they still have free? By the way, as far as I know Alexandria’s DASH bus system is still free for now which can be interesting when DASH and Metro use same bus stop location as Metro is NOT free.

[@Thom-TRA]

No problem, I said “it was a Covid era thing that just stuck.”

[@officialmcdeath]

Thanks for suffering for our entertainment - is Omniride free on weekends as part of social provision by local government? \m/

[@Thom-TRA]

The Omniride local routes are always free, it’s the weekday commuter buses into the city that charge fares

[@officialmcdeath]

@@Thom-TRA that implies that the locals are intended to feed the core commuter routes - fascinating \m/