MANASSAS, Va. — The folks at the Sears store at Manassas Mall want a formal agreement with the local bus agency for riders who park their cars in their lot.
For years, the agency, the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission, has been sending buses bound for Washington to the parking lot outside the store to pick up commuters who park their cars in the. The whole time, the practice has been informal, according to PRTC.
But now, according to PRTC, the mall and Sears want a formal agreement with the transit agency if they’re going to continue to use the lot. Negotiations were completed, and now a formal agreement is in place.
It’s not expected to have any impact on commuter bus or local bus service at the stop in the Sears parking lot.
Manassas is one of two malls served by PRTC. The other is Potomac Mills in Woodbridge, and PRTC does have an agreement with it, but it’s a bit different.
“We do have an agreement with the Potomac Mills shopping center but that one pertains simply to bus stops and shelters, not parking,” said PRTC spokeswoman Christine Rodrigo. “While commuter parking is also present at the Mills, the Mills-PRTC agreement is silent on that because the commuter parking accommodations there are the subject of a separate proffer agreement between the Mills and [Prince William] County.”
In 2011, Potomac Mills removed some 900 parking spaces that were used each weekday by commuters who work in Washington. Ultimately, three new restaurants – Cheesecake Factory, Bobby’s Burger Palace, and Bahama Breeze – were built where those parking spaces were.
