Keolis has won a contract to operate and maintain a bus network in Virginia which will see it carry around 4 million passengers per year, for a period of five years from November 2020. The contract, awarded by the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC), follows just a month after PTRC awarded Keolis a five-year extension to its contract to operate the Virginia Railway Express commuter rail service.
The contract for the OmniRide network is worth approximately €110m. OmniRide serves William County and its surrounding areas, which count 4.6 million inhabitants who use the local and commuter bus service into Washington, D.C. A total of 166 buses will serve the network which features 26 routes and includes 17 park-and-ride car parks. Keolis, which will integrate 237 new employees, has already begun changeover activities to ensure a smooth transition.
“We are excited to work with Keolis. Their team know the region, the expectations, and where we want to go as a service and organization. It’s an exciting time to be a part of OmniRide,” said PRTC/OmniRide’s Executive Director Dr. Bob Schneider.
“We are delighted that the PRTC, our partner of 10 years, has again placed its trust in us with the 2 award of the OmniRide bus network,” added Bernard Tabary, CEO International at Keolis Group. “They can be reassured that we will focus on safety, continuous improvement, innovation, employee engagement and transparency. Drawing on our international track record as a multimodal operator, we are committed to offering OmniRide passengers a top quality mobility option offering a safe and reliable alternative to private car use and thereby helping to reduce congestion and pollution”.
Keolis North America President and CEO Clement Miche said: “OmniRide plays such a critical role in the mobility of residents of Northern Virginia. We are thrilled to have this opportunity to bring our multimodal, customer-focused expertise to the PRTC with the addition of OmniRide’s transit services to our portfolio. The Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia metropolitan region is incredibly important to us as it is where Keolis began in the U.S. and the PRTC was one of our first U.S. partners through the VRE contract. We look forward to supporting OmniRide’s leadership and passengers bringing world-class service, innovation, and safety as they travel throughout the region.”
Keolis has been present in North America since 2002, where it carries 116 million passengers on modes including fixed route, paratransit, tram and commuter rail services in 21 cities, and employs 6,000 people across the US and Canada.
