Author: Uriah Kiser

Morale among bus drivers at the region’s commuter transit agency is low.

It’s the kind of mood you would expect from employees if your bosses, the heads of the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation, are heard in public, and in the media talking about a “doomsday scenario” where operations as you know them could come to an end.

Some relief for cash-strapped OmniRide could come in the form of legislation in Richmond.

A new bill by Sen. Frank Wagner (Norfolk, Virginia Beach) would set the gas tax “floor” at February 2013 rates. That means OmniRide’s parent agency Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission would get it’s 2.1% funding from the state’s motor fuels tax based on 2013 prices, which averaged $3.17 per gallon statewide that year. Diesel fuel averaged $3.36 per gallon statewide. 

The roads last night were treacherous across the region, as less than an inch of snow that fell quickly turned to mush, and then to ice. 

Vehicles traveling on Route 610 slipped and slid all over the roadway as drivers tried to make their way home.