Here's your chance to help determine a strategy for improving mobility in Northern Virginia and surrounding counties - an area being referred to as Super NoVa!  The Super NoVa region includes Northern Virginia and extends to Caroline County in the south, Culpeper County in the west and Frederick County in the northwest.  The study area is broad because the Commonwealth of Virginia wants to find the most cost-effective solutions with a region-wide impact. The effort is being organized by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

The public is invited to participate in a series of meetings this month to help develop a transit and transportation demand management (TDM) vision for the region.  TDM focuses on strategies and policies to help reduce single-occupant vehicles.  The goal is to create The Super NoVa Transit and TDM Vision Plan, a strategy for improving mobility in the region in the short-, mid-, and long-term (today through 2040) through a combination of transit and TDM enhancements.  Learn more at www.supernovatransitvision.com.

Presentations will be made at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. during each of the evening meetings.  At the Crystal City (Arlington County) location, presentation materials will be displayed and study team members will be available for discussion, but presentations will not be made.  The meetings will be held:

Monday, February 13, 2012

6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Ida Lee Recreation Center

60 Ida Lee Drive

Leesburg, VA 20175

Snow date: 2/20/12

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Shops at 1750 Crystal Drive

1671 Crystal Square Arcade

(Underground, near Rite Aid and Metro)
Arlington, VA 22202
[NO PRESENTATION WILL BE MADE AT THIS MEETING]

Snow date: 2/21/12

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Warrenton Community Center

430 E. Shirley Avenue

Warrenton, VA 20186

Snow date: 2/22/12

Thursday, February 16, 2012

6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Spotswood Baptist Church

4009 Lafayette Boulevard

Fredericksburg, VA 22408

Snow date: 2/23/12

Visit the Super NoVa Transit and TDM Vision Plan website for more information.

To check if PRTC is operating on the Emergency Service Plan, starting at 4 a.m. for morning service and at 11 a.m. for afternoon service, passengers should check for:

VDOT determined during an inspection on Monday, January 9 that the bridge on Blackburn Road in Woodbridge just north of Rippon Boulevard is deficient.   As a result, a portion of Blackburn Road will be closed beginning the evening of January 9, 2012.   At this time, there is no information on how long the closure will be in place.

Until the road is reopened, AM and PM Route 1 OmniRide trips will be detoured and miss three bus stops.  Notices will be posted at the missed stops.

Missed stops:

·         Rippon Boulevard after Forest Grove Drive

·         Blackburn Road across from Winslow Court

·         Blackburn Road across from Delaware Drive

Alternate stops:

·         Delaware Drive before Blackburn Road (This is a temporary unsigned stop.)

·         Blackburn Road after Averet Street

The road closure also may affect OmniLink off-route trips. 

Here are the instructions provided by Metro: To add value to your card, simply login to your account at smartrip.wmata.com, select the card number you wish to reload, and click ADD VALUE.

After adding value online, you must touch your SmarTrip card to a SmarTrip target to complete the transaction. You can use any target on a bus farebox, rail faregate or a Farecards & Passes machine.  Transactions may take up to three business days to process.

And here's another way that you can save time!  As of January 2012, those who receive SmartBenefits no longer need to load the SmartBenefits onto their SmarTrip card.  Instead, the benefit will remain in an account with three separate purses for transit, parking and personal stored value.  Your SmarTrip card will access the appropriate account to pay for your fare or parking when you tap your card to a Metrorail faregate, bus farebox or Metro parking target.  Need more information?  Visit Metro's SmartBenefits Autoload page.

Pick up a new ESP brochure on your bus or at the PRTC Transit Center.  Be sure you've got the most recent brochure by checking the cover page and looking for NOVEMBER 2011.  You also can download the ESP brochure from our website.  The brochure is also available in Spanish.

How will you know when the ESP is in effect?  The best way is to sign up for Rider Express email notifications and/or text messages.  Sign up for Rider Express today!  Please note that Rider Express text messages are intentionally kept short to minimize any texting fees you pay to your cell phone provider.  In order to receive the full message, sign up for Rider Express email notifications.