CyRide Operating Deficit Could Mean Increased Fares

The rising cost of fuel and flood insurance pushed CyRide, Ames municipal bus service, into a deficit days before its current fiscal year began July 1.

The $250,000 shortfall has the CyRide Board of Trustees looking for solutions such as asking its funding agencies for more money, cutting back and eliminating routes and increasing the cash fare.

The move could affect CyRide passengers.

“My transportation is the bus. If they take away routes I may not be able to get where I need to go,” said Amber Murray, 22, who uses the bus as her main form of transportation to and from work and shopping.

Regular riders currently pay $1 per one-way trip. Murray spends $2 to $6 on bus fare each day. Even a small price increase would be a burden over time, she said.

“In the long-run it'll get expensive,” Murray said.

The board will discuss what to offer during its regular meeting Thursday, Aug. 25 and that plan will be presented for public input at a Sept. 1 meeting, 6:30 p.m. at City Hall, 515 Clark St.

Sheri Kyras, CyRide Transit Director, was unavailable for comment.

CyRide trustees, which governs the service, have been discussing what to do about the shortfall since April.

The Iowa State Government Student Body, the City of Ames and Iowa State University share the cost of the service, but the board approved its fiscal 2012 budget, starting July 1, 2011, in January.

That budget miscalculated fuel prices, according to the trustees. During the budgeting process, the bus service paid about $1.70 per gallon and anticipated costs to increase to $2.50 per gallon. However, the average cost of fuel in July was $3.21 per gallon. A contract will allow the service to pay $3.05 per gallon from August until March, but it's still 55 cents more than what the service anticipated, according to Board of Trustee documents available online. The service's property insurance premium jumped $65,000 due to flood insurance claims after the August 2010 flood, another unanticipated cost.

CyRiders haven't seen an increase in the cash fare since 2004.

And that suits 76-year-old Kenneth Spear just fine. The one-way fare for seniors on Medicare is 50 cents, but he buys the nine month pass for $130. Spear said a fare increase would mean cutting discretionary spending.

“It would cut into my income. It's a low income and it's a set income,” Spear said.

More than half of his Social Security income goes toward his monthly rent.

“It'll just mean having meals out without dessert, if I eat out,” Spear said.

Another senior Ted Solomon, a retired Iowa State University professor, said he wouldn't mind paying double to ride. A bus trip in Des Moines is $1.75, he said. Here in Ames he pays 50 cents for a one-way trip.

“If there is a deficit, I'm willing to help out,” Solomon said.

Would you be willing to pay more than $1 per trip to ride CyRide? Tell us in the comments.