CyRide

From the 1860s until the early 1890 college students were taxied to and from campus by a horse-drawn carriage that was operated by brothers, Nichols and Maxwell Livery. The town committee published a report on November 1, 1890 stating that there would be a benefit to create a railroad to replace the current system.

On July 4, 1892, the rail line, named the Dinkey (in reference to the size of the engine) departed from its barn on the East end of 5th Street, for its first 2-mile (3.2 km) trip to the Iowa State University campus. The Dinkey ran on 30 lb/yd (15 kg/m) rail; that is small compared to the 136 lb/yd (67 kg/m) rail that is used today. The Dinkey had three passenger cars that were often at maximum capacity because of the growing population of the city.

In 1929, the Dinkey was replaced by a bus system that transported passengers to and from the Iowa State University. In 1976 all operating buses were combined and CyRide was started as a city department.

In 1981 Bob Bourne was hired as the director of CyRide. He brought CyRide from a 12-bus, 3-route system to a 65-bus, 11-route system in his 25 years of employment at CyRide.

CyRide has considered a "fare-free" system for all Ames residents. In 2008, CyRide received 270,000 dollars from paid fares, a small part of the annual revenue. This option was not pursued; fares are collected in 2023. Operating revenues are from many sources, the most significant being the Government of the Student Body of Iowa State University and the university itself. Other sources include the city of Ames and Iowa DOT, and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Fares are a small share of total annual revenues, about 2%, and continue to be collected.

In 2009 CyRide was one of 42 applicants to receive a TIGER grant through the Federal Transit Administration. This allowed them to purchase 12 new hybrid buses at a cost of $6 million. The buses—dubbed 'Cybrids'—have an estimated 6 mpg. The fleet previously averaged about 4.5 mpg fuel efficiency.

In 2019, Ames ranked third in the US for transit rides per capita, a measure of the importance of the service to the city, and of the high quality of service delivered. “Entering the new decade, CyRide ranked third in the nation in ridership per capita, standing at 110.2 rides per capita, trailing only New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency.” The anticipated decline in ridership in early 2020 reflects ISU’s expectation of a decline in student enrollment over the next five or ten years. Students are a major part of the ridership. CyRide gains extra financial support from FTA based on its high quality of operation and service as shown in specific service quality measures.

Additional services

Moonlight Express

In 1984, Cyride started to operate a Friday and Saturday nights service called NightRide. The service was inadequately funded, leading to its cancellation in 1992. It returned as Moonlight Express in 1993, and has been dubbed "the drunk bus" by students. Operating between 10:30 pm and 2:30 am, Moonlight Express replaces regular night service, instead offering door-to-door rides upon request and optimized fixed-route service.

In the time Moonlight Express has been running, there have been no drunk-driving fatalities in Ames during its hours of operation.

Dial-A-Ride

Dial-A-Ride is a door-to-door service that caters mostly to elderly and disabled persons. This service take people within ¾ mile from any fixed Cyride route. A Dial-A-Ride rides need to be scheduled the day before to ensure a spot. In 2005 Dial-A-Ride was turned over to the Heart of Iowa Regional Transit Authority (HIRTA) which is operated out of the Heartland Senior Services site in the Ames area.

Fleet

CyRide currently operates a variety of different transit buses. Much of CyRide's fleet consists of 40-foot buses but there are several 62-foot articulated buses used in high-capacity service and several small buses used for lower-capacity services. The majority of CyRide's 40-foot bus fleet is manufactured by Gillig while the remaining 40-foot bus fleet is manufactured by Orion Bus Industries. CyRide maintained a few GM New Look 40-foot buses for training purposes but none currently remain on the active fleet list. The 62-foot articulated buses (as well as two 40-foot electric buses) are manufactured by Nova Bus. Much of the current CyRide fleet can be referenced in the table below.