Additional bus service will soon be available at a largely vacant commuter parking lot in Woodbridge, an effort by Virginia transportation officials to increase use of the underused lot that’s costing them nearly $300,000. Evening shuttles will begin making three trips to the lot at First Baptist Church of Woodbridge on May 2. The buses, which will run from another commuter lot on Horner Road, will ensure that slug-line commuters can come back to their cars in the church lot at night.

The 370-space First Baptist lot, located about two miles from Interstate 95 on Minnieville Road, has been nearly empty every day since it opened more than a month ago. The lot was intended to replace commuter parking spaces lost at Potomac Mills Mall that were used for slugging, an informal car pooling practice in which drivers pick up passengers so they can use high-occupancy express lanes on the region’s highways.